Betty White Is Alive & Well — Stop Making Jokes…

2016 has been a horrific year when it comes to celebrity deaths. With the news on Tuesday that Carrie Fisher has passed away at the age of 60, people around the world are using social media to mourn, and celebrate her body of work. But there are some people that seem to be taking to the internet for a very worrying reason. Princess Leia is sadly no longer with us, and that's a bitter pill to swallow, but it shouldn't give anyone an excuse to start making jokes about Betty White. Basically, Betty White is alive and well, and people need to stop posting on social media about her dying.

Celebrity death hoaxes are more regular than they should be, but what the world absolutely doesn't need right now is a running joke about Betty White being the next famous person to die. If you've made that joke, delete it. If you were going to make it, don't.

When someone you're a fan of passes away, it's an often shocking realization. When someone you know in real life dies, it's way worse than the death of a celeb you never met, let me tell you. But either way, none of us need fake news trending, regardless of who it's about, especially as it makes a lot of people way more anxious than they need to be about the health status of their beloved stars.

This isn't the first time that White has been subjected to rumors about her death. A joke headline in Empire News in 2014 which read, "Betty White, 92, Dyes Peacefully In Her Los Angeles Home," led to reports that the performer had passed away. Anyone with a dictionary will know that "dye" has a very different meaning to the word "die", and White was proclaimed alive and well by her publicist.

Despite the seeming slew of celebrity deaths in 2016, now is not the time to be making jokes about one of Hollywood's most iconic performers, or anyone else for that matter. At 94 years old, White is an impressive entertainer, and it's understandable that her fans might get worried. However, enough with the jokes already. The next time Betty White is trending, it better be for a good reason. Or else.