Who died? Thatcher or That Cher?

While political observers across the globe are mourning the death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher – the “Iron Lady” of the 1980s – fans of Cher were in a panic this morning thinking it was the singer/actress who had died.

In one of the strangest moments in the history of Twitter, the hashtag that quickly emerged this morning on news of Thatcher’s death was: #nowthatchersdead.

Cher fans read that as Now that Cher’s dead and started sending out mournful tweets about the loss of the fading celebrity.

The death of Thatcher quickly produced hundreds of heartfelt salutes from national figures and the media. The Wall Street Journal said: “A champion of free-market economics, she was arguably the country’s most important political figure since Winston Churchill.”

At the same time, the Cher fans seemed nonplussed to realize that Greg Allman’s ex-wife was alive and a legend of the 20^thCentury was dead.

Which, of course, produced lots of snarky tweets from critics, including comedian Ricky Gervais, mocking these panicked fans. Here is a look at some of the tweets about the confusion, as compiled by the WSJ.