The good news for Usher fans is that the singer is back on Twitter, after undergoing a "digital death" to support Keep a Child Alive's "Buy Life" fundraising campaign to fight HIV/AIDS in India and Africa. The bad news? The digital reviving happened much earlier than it was supposed to -- about $700,000 too early.
Along with fellow stars Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Seacrest and Kim Kardashian, Usher signed off frrom Facebook and Twitter on World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) last week, vowing to quit social networking until "Buy Life" had raised a total of $1 million. "I'm digitally dying tonite for WORLD AIDS DAY, this is my last tweet & testament," he wrote.
Watch: Stars Go Offline for AIDS, Make 'Last Tweet and Testament'
Since then, however, the Buy Life campaign has raised just $299,000, according to a ticker on its website, and Usher issued four updates on his Twitter account yesterday, including a birthday message to songwriter/producer Rico Love and a reaction to his concert last night at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The singer has not mentioned the "digital death" campaign or his premature reappearance in his Twitter posts, although he is still among the celebrities listed as "dead" on the Buy Life site.
Usher is not the only one who has tweeted since his "death." Gaga, Kardashian and Ryan Seacrest have all posted to the social network, though their messages have so far consisted solely of reminders urging their followers to donate $10 and help bring them "back to life."