Margaret Thatcher died today, and Twitter reacted — in part, with the hashtag #nowthatcherisdead, confusing the pants off fans of Cher. (Who we imagine don’t caucus much with politics watchers.)
The #nowthatcherisdead hashtag was part of the post-breaking news discussion of the life and legacy of the first and only female British Prime Minister.
Of course, you can kind of figure out from the #nowthatcherisdead hashtag that the initial tone was not entirely respectful — basically, your run of the mill social media grave dancing:
#nowthatcherisdead FREE MILK FOR ALL.
— colinstevenadams (@colinstevenadam) April 8, 2013
#nowthatcherisdead Ding Dong …….
— Roger Davies (@RogD) April 8, 2013
isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk #nowthatcherisdead must be the most visited website in the UK today….
— Milo Kelly (@MiloIsGod) April 8, 2013
#nowthatcherisdead the world is rid of a poisonous, hateful, creature. I am so happy words cannot express my delight. Good riddance scumbag.
— Robert(@DetoxBob) April 8, 2013
But soon:
So sad to hear that Cher is dead. #nowthatcherisdead
— Jim Donaldson (@cipher_d) April 8, 2013
Ugh, sad times. I always liked her music. #nowthatcherisdead
— Tenebrous (@Tenebrous) April 8, 2013
I loved her in that video for “If I Could Turn Back Time”. #rip #nowthatCherisdead
— S T (@RicheyRevol) April 8, 2013
Oh my god, Cher died?!? #nowthatcherisdead
— Jack Embleton (@Jackmosphere) April 8, 2013
Some people were just too confused by the whole business:
#Nowthatcherisdead Is this confirmation that Margaret Thatcher has died?? Or has Cher died too? #ConfusingHashtags
— Stu Art (@Stu_J_Smith) April 8, 2013
Very confused by the #nowthatcherisdead Cher isn’t dead is she?
— Obi Quinn Kenobi (@thequinny87) April 8, 2013
But even then, Twitter looked to the bright side:
I will say though, that the global outpouring of love for Cher is beautiful. #nowthatcherisdead
— Martin C (@Culley33) April 8, 2013
And today we all learned to capitalize our hashtags.
This is a hilarious consequence of hashtags, haha.