Fact Check

Vin Diesel Death Hoax

Actor Vin Diesel is not dead; but he was the victim of yet another celebrity death hoax.

Published Jan 29, 2014

Updated May 29, 2020
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 10:  Vin Diesel attends the European premiere of "xXx": Return of Xander Cage' on January 10, 2017 in London, United Kingdom.  (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images) (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
Image Via Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
Claim:
Actor Vin Diesel has died.

In January 2014, Facebook users began seeing viral posts teasing the story that actor Vin Diesel had died and offering links to a video report on the subject:

RIP Vin Diesel 1967 – 2014

WATCH THE VIDEO — scenes are not suitable for young audiences [18 years and above].

Those viral posts actually subject users who click on them to a rogue app that requests permission to access to their profiles and post under their accounts; those who incautiously grant such permission end up seeing the "RIP Vin Diesel" post spammed to everyone on their friends list.

Vin Diesel himself remains alive and well, just having shared a photograph with his one-year-old daughter Pauline (who was named for Diesel's late friend and co-star Paul Walker) on Facebook:

In May 2020, a new version of the Vin Diesel death hoax circulated on Facebook. This time, a link lured users to a website that featured a false video report about the actor's death alongside pornographic material.

Updates

Updated with information about a more recent variant of the hoax.

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.