Kanye West Death Rumours

Hip hop icon Kanye West has been the subject of an internet hoax, with fans claiming he had died in a car crash.

It's been a tough few months for Kanye West. The star was forced to cancel his eagerly awaited joint tour with Lady Gaga, before a mis-guided attempt to support his friend Beyonce at the VMAs brought a hail of criticism.

Kanye West stormed the stage after Beyonce was overlooked for an award, grabbing the mic from the actual winner Taylor Swift.

Roundly criticised, amongst the rapper's more notable opponents were Taylor Swift's mother and President Barack Obama - who labelled the hip hop star a "jackass" in an off the cuff remark.

Now the rapper has been the subject of a cruel death hoax. The rumour spread via Twitter and very soon became the top search on the social networking site and on Google in the United States.

Speaking on Twitter, Kanye West's girlfriend Amber Rose expressed her outrage at the rumours.

"This RIPKanyeWest topic is not funny and it's NOT TRUE!" she wrote. "He has people like myself and his family that love him very much."

"It's in extreme poor taste to have that as a trendy topic. It's totally disrespectful to make up a story like this, we're all human and we all make mistakes and to say someone died cuz of a mistake is ridiculous. U wouldn't want someone to say that about u."

Since the Taylor Swift incident Kanye West is rumoured to be doing much soul searching. A source close to the star claimed he was considering travelling to India to rest in a religious Hindu community.