While fans and loved ones of Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington mourn his sudden death, a fake news website has successfully spread a lie claiming he was murdered.
Hundreds of thousands of social media users have shared the article, which falsely claims the musician - along with Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell - was killed for being 'close to' exposing a paedophile ring tied to the debunked 'PizzaGate' conspiracy.
Both deaths have been ruled suicides by coroners.
The fake news website, entitled YourNewsWire, claims a 'police source' told them: "Murders are sometimes made to look like suicides. We think he was murdered, we just have to find out who was behind it."
Snopes.com, a website dedicated to proving or disproving popular internet stories no matter how silly they are, has confirmed the Bennington murder conspiracy story to be a lie.
"We have spoken to all the agencies that have jurisdiction over Bennington's home and can confirm that, contrary to what YourNewsWire reported, law enforcement has not said Bennington was murdered," reports the website.
Bennington was found dead on July 20, 2017 (local time), which would have been Cornell's 53rd birthday.
Newshub.
