Giant Drag's Annie Hardy played a messed up joke. News of Hardy's death circulated the internet on Saturday night after an obituary graphic was posted on her Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts. It featured the words "RIP Annie Hardy" and "June 5, 1981 - Oct 3, 2026" above a photo that musician Joel Jerome wrote in the Instagram comments that he took her of playing his drums.
The full post read: "It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Annie -Summer Hardy. A caring friend to many, a friend to the Animals and a follower of Jesus Christ. Please respect the families wish for privacy during this difficult time. Services to be announced in the days to come Rest in Peace, Annie. The world will never be the same."
Hardy has a reputation for being an edgelord, so many commenters on her IG hoped it was a sick joke while acknowledging it would be unlikely for anyone to post such a thing. "You make a lot of edge jokes dude but this too far fucking call me back," Shaki Tavi commented. "Oh my god. What horrible news," wrote Warren Ellis.
Turns out Hardy is not dead, and this may have been an incredibly dark gag. Jed Shepherd — who co-wrote the 2021 horror movie Dashcam, which co-stars Hardy and is based on her recently revived online series Band Car — posted a few updates on his Instagram. "I'm really hoping this is one of Annie's jokes. I'm on my way to her house to check on her right now. Will update everyone who is asking," he said in his first post.
"Update: I went to her house and we found a video of her planning the prank. She is ALIVE and I'm pissed af," he wrote in another. It's confusing and unnerving what the video might have been and how elaborate Hardy was willing to go with all of this.
Shepherd found her and revealed it was "prank" and "we are all pissed at her." He also posted a "proof of life" photo. Hardy deleted the social posts few hours later. The whole ordeal was a giant drag.
Hardy and Giant Drag are still active. There was a Giant Drag single, "SBHG (Ava's Theme)," on Halloween last year, and Hardy played some concerts in Los Angeles, where she lives, over the summer, most recently at Project Space at the end of August. She posted last week how she is shifting her focus back to music and has a show on Oct. 15 at the Redwood Bar in LA.
"This is not a joke or a prank—I would never do that," Hardy tells Stereogum about the post. She continued:
Pranks are insensitive, and there is nothing funny about someone passing away.
A "hoax" feels like a more accurate description. A hoax shatters what was previously believed to be true, forcing a shift in perspective. In that moment, as old assumptions and emotions dissolve, you are given the opportunity to decide how to view reality moving forward.
One profound aspect of loss is how the living often let go of past grievances, choosing instead to remember the deceased in a purely positive light. Their hearts open fully, knowing they won't see that person again.
I believe we should strive to view one another this way every day. This is how God sees us.
Also I wanted to point out how everything in these phones now is fake. The only real thing we have left in life is our love for one another but here we are letting alleged loved ones evaporate in a mist in the background.
Everything about our modern life goes against our human design. Humanity’s become so inhumane. I thought if only for a second we could all shift dimensional realities together and maybe find new appreciation for one another.
Not a fun experiment. But life isn’t about having fun it’s about our relationships with each other and God and most of us have lost the plot completely.
UPDATE: Hardy returned to social media on Monday. She shared a video with some nature footage prefaced with screengrab of the obit post and her briefly updated Wikipedia page. "Sorry I #fakedmydeath this #weekend But it had to be done," she wrote in the caption. The audio of the post is a monologue in which she explains her motivations and reiterates that it was a "hoax" and not a "prank."
