Hugh Hefner
"Playboy" founder Hugh Hefner is alive and healthy.Reuters

A report claiming that "Playboy" founder Hugh Hefner died on Sunday, 29 December, due to natural causes is fake.

The death hoax report, which appeared on NBC Today, stated that the Editor-in-Chief of popular men's lifestyle magazine was found died at Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles on Sunday morning.

The report was then picked up by various social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter. While the fake report received more than 39,000 likes and 1,59,000 shares on Facebook, it has more than 1800 Twitter shares, reported Inquisitr.

As per Hugh Hefner's death hoax report:

Hugh Hefner, Founder and chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises, was found dead of natural causes Sunday morning at his home, the Playboy Mansion, in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles police officer Jimmy N. Gardner. He was 88.

Police responded to a call around 9 a.m. PDT and confirmed Hefner's identity from other residents of the Playboy Mansion, Gardner said. Police are not releasing a more specific cause of death at this time. "We'll have to wait for an autopsy report for an official cause of death," said Gardner. "From what I have heard Mr. Hefner was in good health for an 88 year old man. With no signs of foul-play we are left to believe his death was of natural causes."

However, the 88-year-old businessman slammed all death rumours through his Twitter handle and wrote, "Tonight's Mansion movie is 'American Sniper.'"

Meanwhile, Hugh's wife Crystal Hefner posted a photo of him on Twitter with a caption "Movie night with the family". In another tweet, she quoted the words of Mark Twain, "A lie can run around the world before the truth has got it's boots on."

However, some of his twitter followers were not ready to believe that the death news is fake and posted numerous comments on the micro-blogging site. 

MadreLoca

Your Ghost is watching a movie.

Clive Barron

Former tea party congressman @WalshFreedom thinks you are dead. How are you tweeting if you are dead?

Dory Benami ‏

Are you alive?

Gro Teubay

Walking dead ? RT @hughhefner Tonight's Mansion movie is "American Sniper."