One Direction star is the victim of a death hoax

Zayn Malik is not dead.

A death hoax involving the 21-year-old One Direction singer took off yesterday, leading #RIPZaynMalik to trend worldwide on Twitter and upsetting millions of fans.

The rumour, which came hours before April Fools’ Day, was fuelled in part by a phony, photo-shopped ‘BBC’ story about Zayn allegedly being found dead in a hotel room.

Fans of Zayn were not impressed with one tweeting, “yes, today is april fools. But this is not a joke at all. This is not funny at all. You crossed the line. Shame on you.”

A similar fake news story in 2011 attempted to trick people into believing Lady Gaga had died.