False Radio Report Worries Fans of Spears and Timberlake

Fans of pop music stars Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake flooded fire and police phone lines Tuesday night after two disc jockeys reported a false rumor that the pair had died in a Los Angeles traffic accident.

The rumor was spread by San Jose deejays Kramer & Twitch on their radio program being broadcast by Dallas rock station KEGL-FM sometime after 7 p.m. Pacific time.

Coroner’s officials said there was no truth to the claim of the pair’s death.

Representatives of Spears, 19, and Timberlake, 20, a singer with the band ‘N Sync, could not be reached. The Dallas radio station’s request and business lines were busy or went unanswered.

But as the rumor spread, the Los Angeles Fire and Police departments were inundated with calls from the news media and worried fans.

Officer Jason Lee of the LAPD said he got 50 to 75 calls in a matter of hours. Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Fire Department, received more than 100 calls. The California Highway Patrol and local hospitals also received calls.

They came in from across the country and around the world. Lee said he fielded calls from Australian and New Zealand news media.

“It really spoiled my night,” Humphreys said.

After a while, Humphrey put a taped message on his voice mail announcing that the Fire Department had “no knowledge of a well-known singer and her boyfriend” being involved in an accident.

On a Web site called the Addicted to Britney Spears Support Group, distraught fans tried to reassure themselves.

“I heard here on a Dallas, Texas, radio station that Britney Spears died in a car accident. Anyone else hear anything?” asked one fan.

It is not the first time Kramer and Twitch have been involved in a controversial report. In February, they were suspended for angering listeners when they joked that motorists should run over motorcyclists and bicyclists or bump them with their open car doors.

In a hoax involving Spears last June, radio stations said the pop queen would appear in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Hundreds of fans were heartbroken when she did not.

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Times staff writer Edward J. Boyer and the Dallas Morning News contributed to this story.