Add William "Refrigerator" Perry -- who played defense for the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles during his 10-year NFL career -- to the list of people who've been killed by erroneous internet reports.
Perry's agent, his brother, alma mater and Perry himself all confirmed that he was very much alive on Wednesday, despite a TigerNet.com tweet that has since been deleted.
Clemson's football sports information director immediately contradicted the stories:
Perry's agent, Adam Plotkin, told the Chicago Tribune that Perry's brother, Michael Dean, had received a lot of calls about his sibling's "death."Some have reported that William Perry passed away today. This is not correct. He is fine.
— Tim Bourret (@TimBourret) August 14, 2013
“I guess someone called Michael Dean and said that someone found out that someone named William Perry died, but it wasn’t the Fridge," Plotkin said. Someone from Clemson called us as well and said they had been getting a lot of calls and stuff." He is completely fine."
TigerNet explained later that they'd seen various reports of Perry's death on Twitter, " but it appears it was another William Perry that caused the confusion."
Perry also took to Twitter to put the rumor to rest:
I heard about the rumors that I passed away online. #SMH. Just wanted to let everyone that they are not true and Im doing fine. Thanks guys!
— William Perry (@FridgePerry72) August 14, 2013
