The fake news of Vijay’s death initially sent netizens into a state of shock on Monday when #RIPactorVIJAY was one of the top twitter trends in the country.
As the trend gathered more than 60,000 tweets, some fans were coaxed by the hoax with some miscreants even sharing a picture from one of Vijay’s films and claiming that it was from his cremation.
— lashmanan (@lashdon) 29 July 2019
— rahim (@rajarahim06) 29 July 2019
— Sam MATHEW (@SamMATH42359310) 29 July 2019
— A R Muruganolan (@Muruganolan) 28 July 2019
However, the rumoured death of "Thalapathy Vijay" as he is popularly called, was soon dismissed by the actor's fans with many accusing the devotees of fellow Tamil superstar "Thala" Ajith for spreading the fake news about the actor's death.
— Venkadesh venky (@Venkadeshvenky1) 29 July 2019
— THALA GKRᴺᴷᴾ🔥🔥🔥 (@GopalaK95560233) 28 July 2019
A segment of netizens including ace Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin lashed out at Ajith fans and called them out for making the fake news trend.
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) 29 July 2019
— Revathy Saravanan (@Sareva25) 29 July 2019
— Anurag Bajoria (@BajoriaAnurag) 29 July 2019
— Bigil Podu (@alameenindia) 29 July 2019
— நோலன் (@NSivajith) 29 July 2019
Both Vijay and Ajith are presently considered to be at the helm of Tamil language cinema in the country and enjoy a significant fan following in all the southern states of the country, especially in Tamil Nadu.
Supporters of both the actors are often known to let their emotions get the better of them, which leads to them hurling online insults at each other.
While the Vijay death hoax did shock the Twitterati, social media wars between the fans of the two stars are nothing new. Some years ago, Ajith was heavily trolled by Vijay fans on state elections voting day, after he posted an image with voting ink on the wrong finger.
