Terry Gilliam's fans react to mistaken news of his death as only true Monty Python devotees would

'He's not dead - he's resting'

Terry Gilliam performs on the opening night of 'Monty Python Live (Mostly)' (Getty Images)

Terry Gilliam’s fans responded to the incorrect news that the popular director had died as only true Monty Python fans would.

Vanity Fair apologised on Tuesday after mistakenly publishing an obituary for the Monty Python star with the headline: 'Monty Python's Terry Gilliam, Director of Brazil, dies at XXX’.

The obituary had been shared thousands of times by late Tuesday evening.

"Director Terry Gilliam, the only American member of the Monty Python comedy troupe and an Oscar nominee for the screenplay to his film Brazil, has died,” it read.

"Gilliam directed 12 feature films, often with baroque or surreal themes, including Time Bandits, Brazil and The Fischer King. His films inspired intense reactions; several were cult classics with devoted followings, but they were generally flawed enough to inspire loathing from those not on the same bawdy, anarchical comedy wavelength."

The magazine issued a hasty response as soon as they realised their mistake, causing relieved fans to inform twitter the 74-year-old was alive and well through the medium of Monty Python jokes and references, including, “he’s not dead, he’s resting”.

Upon seeing the article, Gilliam apologised for being dead to any fans who had purchased tickets for his upcoming shows, and claimed Vanity Fair had misled readers about his age.

I APOLOGIZE FOR BEING DEAD especially to those who have already bought tickets to the upcoming talks, but, Variety has...

Posted by Terry Gilliam on Wednesday, 9 September 2015

Luckily, Gilliam has seen the funny side of it all.