Britney Spears isn't dead: Sony says Twitter account compromised

[NEW YORK] Sony Music Entertainment apologised to Britney Spears and her fans after its Twitter account was hacked and falsely reported the pop star's death, just over two years after a major cyber-attack crippled its parent company's film division.

The tweets, which appear to have since been deleted, included "RIP @britneyspears #RIPBritney 1981-2016," according to USA Today. The issue has been fixed, Sony Music said in a statement Monday.

"Sony Music apologises to Britney Spears and her fans for any confusion," the company said in the statement. "This has been rectified."

The erroneous tweets follow a cyber-attack that forced Sony Pictures Entertainment to take its entire computer network offline two years ago. US officials have blamed that incident, revealed in Nov 2014, on North Korean hackers angered over the Seth Rogen spy-caper comedy The Interview, a movie that depicted the assassination of Kim Jong Un.

Amy Pascal, the Sony Corp studio's co-chairman at the time, left the position months later after e-mails containing jokes about President Barack Obama were made public by hackers.

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