Julia Louis-Dreyfus used her Emmy acceptance speech Sunday to praise her late father, who died Friday, and some people on Twitter apparently thought she meant actor Richard Dreyfuss, rather than billionaire poet William Louis-Dreyfus.
Unlike death hoaxes and cases of erroneous fatality reporting where the person in question is not on Twitter, this particular Internet freakout about the star of “Mr. Holland’s Opus” was quickly put to bed thanks to the crack investigating teams of various media outlets.
I’m actually not Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ father. But I really appreciate all the concerned tweets. https://t.co/4heUxufeOa
— Richard Dreyfuss (@RichardDreyfuss) September 19, 2016
Dreyfuss missed out on an Emmy nomination this year for his turn as Bernie Madoff in ABC’s TV movie about the Ponzi schemer.
Just to reiterate: Richard Dreyfuss, star of “Jaws” and “American Graffiti” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” is not Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ father, and he is still very much alive. In fact, you’ll be able to see him in Fox’s upcoming limited series “Shots Fired,” about a black cop who kills a white teen, in 2017.