Duane “Dog” Chapman is once again having to shoot down death rumors. The reality TV personality, known for his shows Dog the Bounty Hunter and Dog’s Most Wanted, took to Instagram on Monday to show the latest example of a fake news article floating around claiming he died. The fake article’s headline read: “DUANE. ‘DOG CHAPMAN’. Died of SUICIDE After Depression Attack on his Sickness.. I BBCNEWS.” The featured image was a black-and-white image of Dog with an “RIP” graphic that claimed he died in 2019.
This was, of course, not true. A spam website tried to pose as BBC News to get clicks. However, readers can see that the story’s URL is actually from a bogus website.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Fans were relieved to know Dog was still alive and well, but admitted the bounty hunter’s Instagram post about the fake news scared them for a second.
“Dude the article scared me until I realized I just saw you a few a weeks ago in 2020…Haters going to hate,” one fan wrote.
“I seriously almost had a heart attack! Don’t do that to us!,” a second fan wrote.
“OMG my heart dropped,” a third added.
“This scared me for a moment,” another fan wrote.
“This scared me so bad at first glance. How awful of them to do that!” a fifth wrote.
Many fans were fired up about the hoax and lashed out at the spammers.
“Why does this keep happening? Like they’ve tried to say you’re dead more than any other celebrity. So annoying,” one fan wrote.
“That is shocking cant believe they would do that,” another wrote. “Hope you and your family are ok.”
“My god they keep posting fake news. They must be bored. Thank god it is not true!” yet another wrote.
“WTF Roast Them Uncle Dog so cold love the caption died laughing,” another wrote.
The fake news seemingly capitalizes on the fact that he was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism in the heart after his wife, Beth Chapman, died in 2019. He’s been battling depression, as well, after Beth’s death. As he summed up in a FOX 31 interview, it was if he had a “broken heart” after he lost Beth.
“It feels much better now. And I’m going through some psychological things right now too, so that doesn’t help,” Chapman said. “I think, basically, I had a broken heart. And of course, it’s going to heal.”
Photo Credit: Jerod Harris/ACMA2013/Getty Images for ACM
