Steve Harvey Is Still Alive and Well in Spite of What You May Have Heard

Comedian Steve Harvey has been a part of pop culture for decades. The Family Feud host has become an institution unto himself, and now, rumors are circulating that Steve has died. The rumors flying around the internet have led many to wonder whether there's any truth to them.

There weren't any reports that Steve was sick, so the news of his death would be a major surprise. Here's what we know about whether Steve Harvey is dead.

No, Steve Harvey is not dead. The rumors circulating online that suggest that he died are just the latest example of a death hoax. Death hoaxes are typically started because the person who started them is looking to go viral. One of the easiest ways to do that is to claim that someone famous died. In an era of online rumor-mongering, people start sharing these posts before they've even checked to confirm that they're true.

As a result, it's possible for thousands of people to believe that someone has died when they are, in fact, still alive. Steve is far from the first celebrity to be sucked up into one of these hoaxes. The same thing happened to Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Lopez, Jimmy Fallon, and many others. Unfortunately, many people wind up believing in and circulating these rumors before they are disproved.

Because the internet has made many people more likely to trust the people they follow than official news sources, death hoaxes are precisely the kind of disinformation that spreads around online quite easily. Plenty of people see something in their feed and don't question whether or not it might be true. Steve Harvey is still alive, but unless you go to the trouble of checking on the rumor for yourself, you might not know that.

Although many people delight in making fun of him, or in Kenan Thompson's impression of him on Saturday Night Live, the one good thing about the death hoax around Steve Harvey is that it gave the people who love him a chance to reflect on why that is.

Steve has plenty of money, and the admiration of his fans may just be the gravy on top of his life's success.

Even so, it's too often the case that we don't appreciate a person while they're around to hear about it, and this death hoax gave many the opportunity to do exactly that.

Steve, who got his start in stand-up comedy in the 1980s and has since become one of the most popular TV hosts in America, won't be around forever, and letting him know how much he's meant to you is totally appropriate, even if his life is not in any immediate danger.

Death hoaxes aren't usually started because the perpetrator wants us all to appreciate the person it's about. Even so, it's a nice side benefit.