Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Margaret Thatcher Death Hashtag #nowthatcherisdead Leads Twitter Users To Believe That Cher Is Dead!

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher passed away yesterday (8 April) aged 87. In response to the death of the equally-loved-and-loathed female PM, a hashtag surfaced on social networking site Twitter - "#nowthatcherisdead".

The lack of capitalization in the hashtag lead many to mis-read it as "Now that Cher is dead" rather than the intended "Now Thatcher is dead".

Soon enough, many users on the site started using the hashtag whilst tweeting about Cher passing away - with many opting to use the obvious "Turn Back Time" puns.
 Others, knowing that the hashtag referred to Thatcher, used it to tweet about the passing of the former PM. The two uses of "#nowthatcherisdead" meant that the hashtag - and the rumour of Cher passing away - spread like wildfire across the site.

Many online publications quickly reported that "fans" of the 66-year-old superstar were worrying and panicking that their idol had passed away - although these reports seem exaggerated as most of her fans were very much aware that the Oscar-winner was well and healthy.

British comedian Ricky Gervais stepped in to bluntly set his 4.3 million Twitter followers straight by tweeting, 'Some people are in a frenzy over the hashtag #nowthatcherisdead. It's "Now Thatcher's dead". Not "Now that Cher's dead" JustSayin''

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