Jackie Chan, Britney Spears, Morgan Freeman and Justin Bieber are dead

It has killed Jackie Chan, Britney Spears, Morgan Freeman and Justin Bieber. And now, the epidemic has selected its next victim.

“I’m sad to officially announce the death of Jack Black at the age of 46, rest in peace brother.”

This message appeared early Sunday morning on the Twitter account of Tenacious D, the band of actor Jack Black and his longtime friend Kyle Gass.

But Black is not actually dead; he’s just the latest target of a social-media death hoax β€” an event so common that we now recognize the tired cliche as soon as it appears. Tenacious D’s followers instantly started tweeting back at the account, saying they hoped the person who seemingly hacked it goes to jail, develops “a severe illness” or dies. The alleged hacker appeared taken aback that he or she had not starting a parade of mourning for the “School of Rock” actor, but instead sparked a small firestorm of hacking-shamers.