Facebook

The posting on Facebook in March 2021 announcing Al's death got a million likes.

It's been debunked as a hoax, but it did actually affect many people who, like the one the Mandela Effect is named after, were sure he'd already died. Many, many comments were made to this post, and the news quickly spread to Twitter where a similar outpouring of grief occurred:

At about 11 a.m. ET on Monday (March 22, 2021), our beloved singer Weird Al Yankovic passed away. Weird Al Yankovic was born on October 23, 1959 in Downey. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page.

-- R.I.P. Weird Al Yankovic, Facebook March 22nd, 2021

Poll

Al has had that many fake death rumours that The Celebrity Post even ran a poll asking its readers if they thought they were still funny: 75% replied "No".

There have been so many reports of other celebrities dying when they haven't that there's a recognised way to spot if it's true or not. That is, to see if it's carried by any major news site. The idea is that it's so easy for anyone to make a Facebook post some are doing it just for "sport", and if the news is in fact true it will only have credibility if it's seen on the more respectable sites too. 

The reports of Al's death in March 2021 were debunked very quickly, but some concern was caused for a while. He's famous for not only his comedy act, but his many parody videos, often promoted solely through YouTube which brought him worldwide success.

The Mandela Effect here isn't the fact that it's just another celebrity death hoax, it's the fact that many people actually believed he'd already died for real when they heard this latest one.