About 17 hours ago, Nirvana—or, to be more precise, the person who runs the long-defunct band's Facebook page—was forced to shut down a rumor that Kurt Cobain is alive and well and living in Peru.
How did all this come about? Read on, gentle reader.
Earlier this week, a few Nirvana fans saw a 4-year-old video of Peruvian singer Ramiro Saavedra performing Nirvana's "Come As You Are" on Yo Soy, a talent show on Peruvian TV. These same fans immediately dropped what they were doing, grabbed their phones and hit social media hard, pointing out that the physical and vocal resemblance between Saavedra and Cobain—who has been dead since early 1994—was uncanny.
Very quickly, several "Kurt Cobain is alive" rumors began to emerge. On Monday, the U.K.'s Daily Mail even posted a story with the long-winded headline, "Is Kurt Cobain actually ALIVE? Conspiracy theorists claim Nirvana frontman has been 'spotted' in video performing Come As You Are."
Very late last night, however, the following (very funny) post appeared on Nirvana's Facebook page (originally written in Spanish, as you can see in the embedded FB post below):
"It is true, Kurt is alive. He needed time to learn to play the guitar with his right hand. Finding left-handed guitars is not easy. We are so happy to have him back and forgive him for all of the sadness that we have held so deeply in our hearts."
Yes, Saavedra, the guitarist in the Yo Soy video, is a righty, not a lefty (Cobain was a well-known lefty, you see). Not that that's the only reason this is a ridiculous conspiracy theory; Cobain would be pushing 50 now, and Saavedra looks like he's 32-ish. He actually looks more like Brad Pitt than Cobain.
Anyway, for the hell of it, be sure check out the Yo Soy video below. And remember, as convincing as Saavedra's performance is, he is not Kurt Cobain. We've been there and done that.