Sherman Hemsley, a.k.a. George Jefferson actually died in 2012

Actor Sherman Hemsley, most noted for playing George Jefferson in popular TV show The Jeffersons, appears to have passed away for a second time, according to Twitter.

Hemsley actually passed away in July 2012, 3 years from the date of this article (UPDATE: This article was originally published on July 27th 2015). But today Twitter has been flooded with condolences from people apparently unaware of his death, believing he had only just died.

UPDATE: In fact rumours about Hemsley’s death have now spread for a second time since he actually died, most recently circulating in late July 2016, 4 years after his actual death!

Twitter users, radio stations and blogs have all been paying their respects on social media.

Why these excessively prolonged respects begin to spread across social media is – for them most part – unknown. It’s a bizarre phenomenon that has occurred before. Artist Tony Hart passed away in 2009 but in early 2015 thousands of people pay their belated respects in 2015, believing he has only just passed.

Messages spread across Twitter also include links to media reports of his death that were all – unsurprisingly – written in 2012.

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It is likely down to a number of factors why these incidents occur. They appear to happen near the same time of the year the celebrity actually died – Hemsley passed away only 3 days (and 3 years) before his own overdue respects came pouring in.

Also the level of fame appears to play a crucial role. Both Tony Hart and Sherman Hemsley were recognisable to many of different people but their respective deaths probably did not garner much mainstream media coverage, so many were likely unaware that either had died.

Either way, Sherman Hemsley passed away in 2012, not this week.