Is Bill Cosby Dead? No, But He'll Humor the Rumor to Push His iPhone App

(Aug. 2) -- Have you heard the news? According to the Internet, Bill Cosby died Monday ... again.

No, the seminal comedian and Jell-O pudding pitchman is not really dead. And no, it's not the first time that Internet rumors have posited the death of Mr. Cosby. In February, a similar claim was spread across social networking sites like Twitter, to which Cosby offered a bemused response.

"As you well know, a dead person cannot rebuttal. Therefore, I am rebuttaling to tell you that when I heard the news I immediately began rebutalling and went into denial," Cosby wrote on his website on Feb. 6. "My wife just informed me that there is no such word as rebuttaling, she says the word is rebutting. But I don't care, because I'm alive!"

Monday's new death rumor generated tremendous Web interest, quickly becoming one of the most searched terms on Google and dominating the Trending Topics column on Twitter. This time, however, Cosby seemed intent on turning news of his own death to his advantage.

Well played, Mr. Cosby. As celebrities from Elvis to J.D. Salinger know, death can result in a huge spike in sales, so why not harness death rumors to a similar economic advantage? While Cosby's iPhone app is free, it does lead users to a host of products -- from audio books to concert albums -- that are not.