Plenty of celebrities have been enraged by rumors of their deaths, but when a story emerged of a particularly grisly end for rocker Mark McGrath he was the one apologizing.
In a PR stunt that largely fell flat, a press release Thursday announced that the lead singer of Sugar Ray -- the band popular in the 1990s whose hits included "When It's Over" -- had been shot dead.
A masked gunman shot McGrath several times as he filmed a show on the edgy comedy network Adult Swim and he "died in the arms" of his co-host, the release said.
In a mockery of online tributes, the press release asked fans to remember the Sugar Ray singer on social media by posting selfie photos of themselves with sugar packets over their hearts.
The 46-year-old singer later posted a video of the Edgar Winter song "Still Alive and Well" and insisted that he was not involved in the hoax.
"Sorry about any confusion," McGrath wrote on Twitter.
The hoax was meant to promote an Adult Swim show in which McGrath's character is killed.
The plan may have succeeded in generating publicity, although McGrath seemed to acknowledge that some people did not enjoy the joke.
He posted a message from a Twitter user who complained of losing eight dollars in a "celebrity death pool."
"Only eight bucks for my death. Hmmm, I guess that's about right!" McGrath wrote.