7 Celebrity Rumors That Won't Go Away

April 4, 2013— -- intro: On Wednesday, several Spanish-language news outlets reported that reggaeton star Daddy Yankee had come out as gay following the release of an image that appears to show him kissing another man. Curiously, none of the reports linked back to a statement. Instead, they quoted the singer (né Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez) as saying, among other things, that he no longer wanted to lie about who he is. You can check out reports -- all in Spanish -- on his supposed coming out statement here, here, and here.

As we immediately pointed out (*snaps suspenders*), the statement was hella suspicious because it happened to be -- word-for-word -- the same exact statement issued by singer and Mexican telenovela star Christian Chavez when he came out in 2007.

Later in the day, the performer's representatives issued a statement refuting reports that he had come out as gay. "Online blogs and social media are once again to blame for the spread of false news reports, which other media outlets have also shared regarding a public figure," they wrote, according to The Los Angeles Times. "The reports circulating regarding Daddy Yankee's declaration of homosexuality was falsely written by an online outlet known for fabricating false information and spreading it through social media sites."

This is a story we've definitely heard before...

quicklist: 1title: Eddie Murphytext: Poor Eddie Murphy. His career highs gave us such iconic films as Coming to America, which seems to air on cable roughly every six minutes, Beverly Hills Cop, and Shrek, and his personal lows have given an unending supply of Schadenfreude. But just because the dude had been lying low for a while (with good reason), doesn't mean you can go and proclaim him dead.

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quicklist: 2title: Jamie Lee Curtis text: Is Jamie Lee Curtis -- horror movie heroine, star of both timeless comedies and blockbuster action flicks, poop yogurt connoisseur -- intersex? No one knows for sure and, despite the rumor's pervasiveness over the years, it's no one's business but Jamie Lee's.

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quicklist: 3title: Mick Jaggertext: It's tough to address rock star rumors without resorting to NSFW language, but we'll try our best: Rumor has it that, during one of their many wild and drug-fueled parties, Mick Jagger used singer/actress Marianne Faithfull as a means of holding onto a Mars Bar that he had been in the process of consuming with much fervor and cunning. The rumor happens to be false, despite its staying power. Oh well. At least they weren't M&M's.

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quicklist: 4title: Mama Casstext: Mama Cass was a force to be reckoned with -- an uber talented, stylish, and soulful singer who happened not to look or act like a cookie-cutter pop star. For this, of course, she must be punished. Enter the rumor that the singer died while choking on a ham sandwich -- the least glamorous of all sandwiches -- while in a hotel room. In reality, she died of a heart attack at the age of 32.

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quicklist: 5title: Devon Sawatext: No, Devon Sawa is not dead. Go home, Twitter. You're drunk.

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quicklist: 6title: Richard Geretext: We have to admit that, as far as awful and patently false celebrity rumors go, this one has always been our favorite. We really don't have to explain this one to you, right? It involves a gerbil and a lot of knowing winks, and that's where we'll leave it. Interestingly enough, this rumor's origin is a rumor as well. In 2006, actor Sylvester Stalone said he thinks Gere blamed him for the unfortunate rumor because the two had fought on the set of The Lord of Flatbush. As Crushable tells it, Gere spilled mustard in Stallone's car, Stallone got him kicked off the film in a condiment-fueled rage, and "to this day seriously dislikes me. He even thinks I'm the individual responsible for the gerbil rumor. Not true… but that's the rumor."

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