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Earlier this month, rumors went viral online that actor Dennis Haskins (aka, Mr. Belding from the hit teen sitcom "Saved By The Bell") died in a tragic car crash. NOT true! Just another morbid celebrity death hoax, and the 63-year-old "former principal" is not happy about it.
Following the disturbing hoax, several family members and friends called Haskins in a panic, worried about his health and safety. During a recent appearance on HuffPostLive, the "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" star condemned such "mean" and "nasty" rumors. What happens when a celeb actually DOES die. Not so funny, then.
In regards to the RIP buzz, Haskins explains:
"I was aware of it Sunday night, a friend of mine called me crying... She said, 'I just wanted to hear your voice.' I said, 'Why? Are you okay?' She goes, 'You're not dead!' And I'm like, 'No!' I didn't know about it."
Things only got worse. He continued:
The next day, a script supervisor from the show called me and said, 'Denny, I was just making plans to go to Tennessee and go to your funeral!'" the actor explained. "I'm like, 'Holy cow!' So she sent me the link, I saw what was going on... they made it look legit. The story was written really well, it was really laid out, I'm not complimenting this person, but it was like a police report. 'Traveling at a certain rate of speed... crossed over a line... no alcohol or drugs in his system...' The things all tied in and it could've made sense."
Haskins quickly denied the death rumors on Twitter back on Sept. 1. Fans then gave a huge sigh of relief:
@mrbelding: "There's no truth to the rumor that I was in a car crash! Thx to all my friends who reached out but I'm still on this side of the grass! :-)."
@mrbelding: "A funny thing happened with this mean-spirited hoax. A tremendous outpouring of love & affection came my way. Thank you so much! #grateful."
@mrbelding: "Special thx to @marclamonthill & @HuffingtonPost for clearing up the now viral hoax that I died! You can Google it later at @HuffingtonPost."
@mrbelding: "Thank you to everyone who sent such wonderful, amazing messages to me over the past few days! The hoax is dead, not me! :-) Let's Move On!"
During the interview, Haskins also explained:
"The thing that kills me is that a lot of people that care about me, that are not just friends and family members, but fans, really think I died. It was mean. It's not satire, satire is humor... I have chills all over me, because, that's the byproduct of this for me, is I've seen so much love and affection and response and people caring... This is people really caring."
Moral of the story - don't spread such crazy death rumors unless they're 100% fact!
