--- title: Ricky Martin Isn't Dead description: The singer's response to a hoax video was perfect. canonical: https://time.com/3653614/ricky-martin-not-dead/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-05T15:51:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:15:40.662Z og:title: People Thought Ricky Martin Was Dead So He Did This og:description: The singer's response to a hoax video was perfect. og:url: https://time.com/3653614/ricky-martin-not-dead/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Thought Ricky Martin Was Dead So He Did This twitter:description: The singer's response to a hoax video was perfect. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # People Thought Ricky Martin Was Dead So He Did This by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jan 5, 2015 3:51 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jan 5, 2015 3:51 PM UTC A YouTube video released Saturday suggested singer Ricky Martin had died in a car accident. The video was a hoax, but many fans lamented over the “Livin’ La Vida Loca” star’s faux passing on social media. In a response, Martin posted an Instagram photo of a beach, writing “hello from #heaven.” He later sent out another photo of himself enjoying a sunset. Good thing he has a sense of humor. _Read next:_ [_50 Smartest Celebrities on Twitter_](http://time.com/2988037/smartest-celebrities-twitter/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3653614/ricky-martin-not-dead/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3653614/ricky-martin-not-dead/"},"headline":"People Thought Ricky Martin Was Dead So He Did This","datePublished":"2015-01-05T15:51:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:15:40.662Z","description":"The singer's response to a hoax video was perfect","url":"https://time.com/3653614/ricky-martin-not-dead/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","viral","Instagram","Dead","hoax"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3653614/ricky-martin-not-dead/","name":"People Thought Ricky Martin Was Dead So He Did This"}}]}] ```