In December 2023, false rumors circulated claiming that Keith Urban had died. For instance, a popular YouTube video claimed, “R.I.P. Country singer Keith Urban, who passed away last night. Fans in tears,” to which commentators responded with messages indicating they believed the death to be real.
The video falsely claimed that Urban died after suffering from a tumor "exerting pressure on his lungs." The clip did not provide evidence or sources to independently verify its claims.
Similar posts fictionalizing the celebrity’s death had circulated prior to the YouTube video. Then, in December 2023, blog posts surfaced asking whether Urban had died and a wave of Snopes readers searched our site for information on the rumor.
However, there was no evidence the singer died, as of Dec. 22, 2023. Had that actually happened, reputable news outlets such as The Associated Press would have published obituaries to memorialize him. That had not happened.
The hoax spread as Urban posted about his concert tour on Instagram, indicating that he was indeed alive and well. He also reportedly appeared with his wife, Nicole Kidman, at a screening of her new television series on Dec. 20, 2023.
In addition to the social media posts, a December 2023 article on MediaMass drew attention to the alleged celebrity death, calling Urban's death report a hoax. However, MediaMass is not a reliable source of information. The outlet describes its articles as "satire,” and a page on its website says its goal is to “expose with humor, exaggeration and ridicule the contemporary mass production and mass consumption that we observe."
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