Lenny Kravitz is not among the dead in a Florida plane crash that killed nine people, his representative confirmed.
Carleen Donovan, Kravitz’s rep, told BocaNewsNow on Sunday that rumors linking the 60-year-old rocker to the fatal crash were unfounded. “The reports are untrue and incorrect,” Donovan said.
The confusion began when social media users on X resurfaced a since-deleted Facebook post from Florida-based pilot Emily Shelton, 21, in which she had announced she would be flying Kravitz from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. The post, made shortly before Sunday’s accident, included a reference to one of Kravitz’s hit songs: “‘It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over’ is gonna be playing in the cockpit 💃 🎶.”
Fans on X wrongly assumed Shelton was piloting the doomed $2 million Learjet and that Kravitz was among its passengers. The jet, which had departed from Austin-Bergstrom, crashed into a South Florida mobile home park while bound for the Bahamas, killing everyone on board.
Shelton herself took to TikTok on Sunday to debunk the speculation. “I was recently made aware that there are rumors that I was the pilot of the recent crash in Palm Beach,” she wrote.
“I would like to respectfully clarify I was not. I ask that people please stop speculating and spreading misinformation on this tragedy and be respectful of those involved.
“My heart goes out to all those lost and affected,” Shelton added.
The actual pilot was identified Monday as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha, who had obtained her pilot license while still in high school. The plane took a sharp right turn before nosediving from 8,000 feet into the ground, leaving an enormous crater and fireball at the crash site.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the destruction, telling reporters: “It looked like a missile going down, it left a big crater on the side of the road.” He called the crash “cataclysmic.”
Shelton had previously drawn viral attention in August for making an emergency landing on Interstate 10. The young pilot’s earlier notoriety likely contributed to how quickly her name became attached to Sunday’s tragedy once her Kravitz post circulated.
Authorities have not yet publicly identified the nine people killed in the crash.
The Kravitz rumor represents a familiar pattern of celebrity death hoaxes that spread rapidly on social media in the immediate aftermath of major accidents, when verified information remains scarce and users often seize on coincidental details to construct false narratives.
Kravitz, the “Fly Away” singer, has not personally commented on the rumors beyond his representative’s statement.