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Is Woody Allen dead? Sick trolls spark viral hoax but here's the truth: ‘Terrible fake, how can you fall for this’

The legendary filmmaker and multiple Academy Award-winning director has been an increasingly controversial figure ever since the Time's Up and Me Too movements caught speed in Hollywood

Woody Allen, the legendary filmmaker and multiple Academy Award-winning director, was the latest victim of a celebrity death hoax. But, unlike in most cases, the news of Allen's death was being celebrated on the Internet, mostly by nameless, faceless trolls.

The 84-year-old director – known for films like 'Take the Money and Run' (1969), 'Bananas' (1971), 'Sleeper' (1973), 'Love and Death' (1975), 'Manhattan' (1979) 'Stardust Memories' (1980), 'Annie Hall' (1977), 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' (1985), 'Another Woman' (1988) and 'Crimes and Misdemeanors' (1989) among many others – has been an increasingly controversial figure in recent times ever since the Time's Up and Me Too movements caught speed in Hollywood.

As a result, people on Twitter are celebrating the news of Allen's potential death. According to the fact-checking website Snopes, the hoax appeared to be centered around a fake tweet from entertainment news network DiscussingFilm. The editor-in-chief of DiscussingFilm tweeted, "This is such a stinker photoshop, we never posted this LMFAO. Woody Allen trending because of this is hilarious, but 1) we never use BREAKING: 2) there’s no image 3) you can see where the text is photoshopped in. This is a terrible fake, how can you fall for this"

One Twitter user wrote, "imagine lying about someone’s death especially Woody Allen’s you’re so sick FOR GIVING PEOPLE FALSE HOPE," while another said, "I’m seeing the girls say that Woody Allen is dead ... PLEASE DONT PLAY WITH ME PLEASE TELL ME ITS TRUE!" Someone else tweeted, "Woody Allen not actually dead what the f**k whoever started that rumor you're not seeing heaven."

A user wrote, "I am disgusted at the people celebrating Woody Allen's death, learn to check your sources, I can only set off fireworks once." One user tweeted, "Bruh is Woody Allen dead please say yes yo please one good thing from 2020 please."

A user, offering a more nuanced opinion, said, "Saw #woodyallen trending. A strange mix of feelings before I realized his death was falsely reported. Big fan of his movies when I was younger. Can't bring me to watch them now. Like the man said: Won't attend the funeral, but will send a nice note saying I approve."

Allen has been accused by his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow of having sexually molested her back in 1992 when she was seven in the home of her adoptive mother, actress Mia Farrow. Allen has repeatedly denied the allegation.

Dylan has repeated the allegation several times as an adult in an interview with Maureen Orth for Vanity Fair in 2013, an open letter in the New York Times in 2014 and a Los Angeles Times op-ed in December 2017. Allen has also spoken publicly about the allegation in an interview with Gayle King for CBS This Morning, in a New York Times op-ed, and in 2018 in a statement to CBS News, each time denying it.