Minutes after Twitter was buzzing with the shocking news of Michael Jackson's death, it was announced that Jeff Goldblum had also passed away, having fallen to his death while filming in New Zealand (heh, same thing happened to Tom Hanks a few years back). Mainstream outlets also picked up the story, allegedly confirmed by New Zealand police, and it took some TMZ appearances, photos, and a statement from his representative Stan Rosenfield that Goldblum was alive and well and nowhere near New Zealand to make things right again.

Although similar pranks also swirled around Harrison Ford, George Clooney, Rick Astley (come on, that was just an excuse to Rickroll some more), and Natalie Portman, the Goldblum rumor was one that really took hold. It's easy to see why, of course. The others are too preposterous, whereas Goldblum is just clear of the spotlight so that when The Fly comes on TV, you stop to wonder, "Hey, why doesn't he do more movies? What is he up to? I should look him up on IMDB." Of course, you never do, and so he's someone you could easily believe was off in New Zealand filming something risky, like Jurassic Park 4. Thankfully though, it was all a stupid Twitter prank.

Or was it? Stephen Colbert paused to remember the actor on The Colbert Report, and Goldblum himself showed up to deny it ... only to finally confirm the rumors after all. The video is below the jump and, well, what can I say? We'll miss you, Jeff Goldblum.