Christian Slater joins list of celebrity death hoax 'victims'

Contrary to a fast-spreading Internet rumour, actor Christian Slater is indeed alive and well.

The 'True Romance' star was forced to deny he had been killed in a freak snowboarding accident in Switzerland when the false rumours started doing the rounds, reports the Daily Mail.

Apparently, Slater is the latest to join the list of death hoaxes involving celebrities like Eddie Murphy, Aretha Franklin, Adam Sandler, and Charlie Sheen.

News of the 41-year-old's demise had become one of the fastest trending topics on Twitter before it was debunked.

Slater's publicist told the New York Daily News that he is indeed alive and well.

The hoax has alarmed security experts who said it is the latest in a series of phoney death notices which could be being used by cybercriminals to spread viruses and malware.

Many of the fake death claims appear to have originated from spoof news site Global Associated News, which carries the 'death' of Tom Hanks whilst filming in New Zealand amongst its top stories.

It also appears to have a fetish for snowboarding deaths as Murphy, Sandler and Sheen were all killed off at Switzerland''s Zermatt Ski Resort.