Zayn Malik was the target of a death hoax on Twitter when the hashtag "#RipZaynMalik" started trending today. One Direction fans took to Twitter to defend Zayn Malik and threaten whoever started the trend. Meanwhile, Zayn's girlfriend Perrie Edwards continues to receive hate tweets from jealous Directioners.

When the hashtag "#RipZaynMalik" began trending on Twitter, livid One Direction fans came out to support their favorite singer. Some of Zayn's fans used violent language and strong threats.

One Twitter user wrote: "to the one who started this stupid tag i will find u come to ur home and stab u with a fork okay? don't be dumb stupid people"

Another tweeted: "TO THE ONE WHO STARTED THIS:I HOPE ONE DAY UR KIDS WILL HAVE NOTHING TO EAT AND THEY WILL WORK ALLDAY JUSTTO HAVE ASLICE BREAD"

A fan wrote: "whoever started this ur life ends this week."

"this is the stupidest hashtag I"ve ever seen yall think this is funny but its not -_-," posted another.

A One Direction fan commented on the trending hashtag: "this is the worst early april fool i've ever read"

Another was extremely upset by the news: "THIS HASTAG ALMOST MADE ME THROWS MYSELF TO THE FLOOR N CRY WHAT IS WRONG W U PEOPLE WHYYYY !!!!! OMFG I CANT TAKE THIS"

Meanwhile, Zayn's fiancee Perrie Edwards continues to receive hate tweets from One Direction fans on Twitter.

One fan replied to a recent message from the Little Mix singer, saying: "KILL YOURSELF B****"

Another posted: "PERRIE CAN F**KING DIE LIKE JUST F**KING CHOKE HERSELF OUT ON HER DOG FOOD"

When Edwards and Malik were spotted ice skating together on a romantic date, someone tweeted to her: "I hope zayn slip and fall so hard in that ice rink and accidentally stab perrie with his ice skates"

Other upsetting tweets have included:

"only ugly people think perrie is pretty"

"PERRIE LOOKS SO UGLY IM SORRY"

In 2012 Malik left Twitter for a period because of the hate both he and Perrie were getting from fans and followers, Unreality TV reports.