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Rue McClanahan Is Still Dead: Did Lego Start the Rumor?

Written by

Mike Tuttle

in

Rue McClanahan has been dead for five years. Somehow that was lost on some people. So they killed her again.

Social media lit up yesterday with news that Rue McClanahan, famous for playing Blanche on The Golden Girls, had died. Facebook and Twitter both roiled with the news, as fans and saddened TV watchers posted tributes and spread the news.

But, as any true Golden Girls fan would know, Rue McClanahan long ago departed this mortal coil to join Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty at that Shady Pines in the sky. Betty White has been the sole occupant of the lanai for a while now.

Rue McClanahan died of a stroke in June of 2010. McClanahan was 76 years old. Some have called McClanahan the Original Cougar for her role as the over-sexed Blanche Devereaux.

Perhaps it was the desire to round out the “they happen in threes” maxim by lumping Rue McClanahan in with the recently-deceased Christopher Lee and wrestler Dusty Rhodes that drove people to jump on the bandwagon. Or maybe some news is just big enough to pass around five years down the road for people who only climbed out from under a rock recently.

But it can be excused, given the fact that it was CBS who first ran with the “announcement.” Presumably, an intern has now been axed. But not before it got tweeted out at large.

If you follow this CBS link to the original story, it now leads to a video that claims that “for some reason” McClanahan’s death has gone viral. They even express wonder that the CBS obit for Rue McClanahan from five years ago is getting traffic again.

Maybe it’s because they posted it again?

Once their error was pointed out, many tweeters felt embarrassed. But people trust a national news agency to tell them straight.

Or maybe it was the Lego Corporation that gave the obit of Rue McClanahan a bump. Could they be drumming up sales for their Golden Girls Lego set?

There is already loads of interest in the set, which features the still-dead Rue McClanahan holding a lipstick.

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