TikTok Rumors Suggested that Matthew Sturniolo Was Murdered by His Brother

If you needed one more reminder not to believe everything you see on TikTok, you may have gotten it courtesy of a series of posts memorializing Matthew Sturniolo. Matthew, who is one third of the Sturniolo brothers, three triplets who have become well known as influencers online, apparently died back in 2021 — at least according to these posts.

Strangely, then, Matthew is still posting on his accounts as of 2024. If you're wondering exactly what happened to Matthew, you're not alone. Here's what we know about how this rumor got started, and whether it's based on anything real.

Despite what you may have heard, Matthew is just fine. The posts that are now trending are an excellent example of how a simple joke can get out of hand. Those jokes claim that Matthew was killed by his brother Nicholas back in 2021 after Nicholas put poison in Matthew's food. The post further claimed that Nicholas was now serving a prison sentence for murdering his brother.

Thankfully, none of that is true. Instead, the whole thing started after the brothers shared a video in which Matthew appeared to eat poisoned food and then fall over dead. This was called the "poison prank," and the original video makes it quite clear that the whole thing was a joke. Thanks to some additional edits from the internet, though, the video took on a life of its own.

Matthew is doing just fine, and posted on his Instagram page as recently as a week ago. In the comments under the original video, many have pointed out that the video was actually first released in 2023, and there are still plenty of people who seem to believe that it's real.

If you just take a look at his accounts, though, you'd know that Matthew is still very much alive (unless of course he's been replaced by one of his brothers).

While this particular death hoax was brought on at least in part by the brothers' own video, it's not the first time that one of the brothers has come face to face with rumors of their own death.

Another person said that Matthew's brother Chris had died in a car accident, and even created a fake post that made the news appear to be true.

Thankfully, that news is just as false as the rumors that Matthew had died. Chris, Nicholas, and Matthew are all alive, and none of them is currently doing hard time for murdering any of their brothers.

As a huge number of celebrities are well aware, death hoaxes are just part of being well known on the internet. Once you get past a certain level of fame, it seems almost unavoidable that rumors will begin to spread that you're dead, even if you know that you're very much still alive.