Ringo Starr used Twitter to announce the death of George Martin at the age of 90.
George Martin Dead
Initially, only Ringo’s tweet was cited as the source regarding Martin’s death. Hours later, Billboard confirmed that “A Universal Music Group spokesperson confirmed Martin’s death…”
There were initially two tweets from Starr and later an Instagram post from Sean Ono Lennon.
Thank you for all your love and kindness George peace and love xx????? pic.twitter.com/um2hRFB7qF
— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) March 9, 2016
God bless George Martin peace and love to Judy and his family love Ringo and Barbara George will be missed xxx ??????
— #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) March 9, 2016
Some fans who sought verification ran across the fake Mediamass entry for George Martin, stating that his death is a hoax. That site generates the same “death hoax” report for hundreds of celebrities (there are identical “death hoax” articles for Ringo Starr and Paul McCarntney, for example). See more about Mediamass here.
Some fans initially suggested that because there were no other reports of Martin’s death, Ringo’s Twitter may have been hacked.
Martin’s Wikipedia entry was changed back and forth several times in a sort of tug-of-war by those attempting to update his death date, and those who were not convinced by initial reports.
Sean Ono Lennon posted about Martin on his Instagram profile about an hour after Starr’s tweet:
Bottom Line
Ringo Starr and Sean Ono Lennon tweeted that George Martin died. This was confirmed by a Universal Music Group rep to Billboard a few hours later. Some fans believed Martin’s death reports were merely a hoax after finding the bogus Mediamass website.