Searches for the singer’s name displayed an Google information box reading, “Died Sept. 17, 2026.”
“Billy’s not dead,” his publicist, Claire Mercuri, told Newsday Thursday afternoon. “I was just emailing with him.”
Joel, 77, canceled all upcoming concerts last year after a diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus, a brain disorder that can affect hearing and balance. He has still made occasional appearances, including on “Club Random With Bill Maher” and Rick Beato’s YouTube podcast.
Last week on his SiriusXM channel, he told fans he had surgery to place a shunt in his brain.
“I noticed that my balance was not good. I had this sense of, like, being on a boat, like this rocking motion,” Joel said. A neurologist diagnosed NPH, warned that it could worsen and recommended a shunt. Joel said he agreed after learning the procedure could improve his memory.
“I just want people to know, don’t worry about me,” the Hicksville-raised singer said on his show. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here. I’m still here.”
Joel is not the first celebrity to be declared dead by mistake. Google listed Eminem as dead in 2023. Jackie Chan answered a 2013 Facebook death rumor with a photo showing that day’s date. A fake social media post helped fuel reports of Cher’s death in 2012.
After Wikipedia said Sinbad had died of a heart attack in 2007, the actor-comedian called The Associated Press.