Cricket and cinema fans in India woke up to hashtag #RIPJosephVijay trending across the country hours before the start of the new season of IPL. The trend left fans of Tamil actor Joseph Vijay concerned about the well-being of their screen idol. The first impression from the overwhelming number of tweets under the hashtag was that the popular actor had passed away. Some tweets said that the actor had ended his life by suicide since Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to pass on the captaincy of the Chennai Super Kings to Ravindra Jadeja.
However, soon it emerged that the claims made by a section of Twitter users were fake and the actor was in good health.
Here’s a snapshot of tweets posted under hashtag #RIPJosephVijay.
Joseph Vijay, A die-hard fan of #MSDhoni, Committed suicide because he couldn’t accept Jadeja as CSK’s new captain.#RIPJosephVijay pic.twitter.com/geMhiFjdNS
— M̷ɾ. ???? (@__Dhinu__) March 26, 2022
Miss u Anney????????????#RIPJosephVijay pic.twitter.com/sKMQUqCqsI
— DHEENA????⛓️DHANUSH???? (@Dhanush05919474) March 26, 2022
#Josephvijay ‘s Exclusive pic during suicide ????#RipJosephVijay pic.twitter.com/a3zbMRFD1T
— ➳ᴹᴿ᭄???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ❤乂 (@VedalamK) March 26, 2022
He went to depression because of his hair fall problem ????????#RIPJosephVijay pic.twitter.com/zzcYzZF4DD
— – ????☠️ – (@_vignxh) March 26, 2022
The hashtag falsely declaring the death of an actor, who was recently voted as the most popular Tamil star by an Indian publication, did not go down well with many social media users.
They took to the microblogging site to register their disgust.
What the fuck is wrong with these Vijay Ajith fans? Hashtags not funny anymore. Sickos
— Anamika- Don’t @ me- See pinned tweet. (@NameFieldmt) July 29, 2019
Okay!!! Enough is enough… Everything has a limit..only our THALA name will be spoiled.. Please stop #RIPActorVijay tag if u r a Viswasamana Thala Fan???? Let’s not bring negativity to #NerKondaPaarvai movie which is slated to release next week.Let’s Concentrate on our celebration
— Nagarjun Surya Nayak (@khal_naik) July 29, 2019
Background :
Ajith’s Nerkonda Parvai releases on Aug 8. Vijay fans started trending #ஆகஸ்ட்8_பாடைகட்டு
Ajith fans retaliated with #RIPactorVIJAY
Result ~ Tamil youth priding their stupidity all India level ????????— பொதரு மாமா (@bushhuncle) July 29, 2019
It seems those trending #RIPJosephVijay are the fans of another Tamil actor, Ajith, who were angered by the trolling of their star by Vijay fans. The rivalry between the two fans is well known. Not too long ago, Vijay fans had mocked Ajith, whose film Nerkonda Parvai releases on 8 August. Fans of both these actors are always quick to compare the box office successes of their respective stars.
Many argued that both Vijay and Ajith should take a public stand against the antics of their fans now that they had gone too far.