Joe Diffie died on March 29 after a short battle with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. In the weeks that followed, several conspiracy theories have emerged, claiming Diffie's cause death was something else.

Now, the singer's widow, Tara, is speaking up. In a post shared to Instagram, Tara Diffie calls news reports claiming the "Pickup Man" singer died of anything but coronavirus "fake news."

"I've seen multiple posts and it's upsetting to all of us," she writes.

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One popular conspiracy theory that surfaced claims Diffie's cause of death was something else, but that hospitals have started reporting many deaths as coronavirus-related to boost funding. This post has been shared more than 130,000 times on Facebook.

Another theorist claims the singer died of lung cancer.

"My husband @officialjoediffie did NOT HAVE LUNG CANCER," Tara Diffie insists. "His father passed, same name, November 2018 to stage IV lung cancer." The elder Diffie's obituary confirms this.

The misinformation was enough to warrant an investigation on Snopes. The website labeled all theories that Diffie died from something other than coronavirus as "false."

Diffie was just 61 years old when he died in March. Just two days prior to his passing, on March 27, he revealed he'd contracted the coronavirus. He became the first country celebrity death as a result of the virus and COVID-19, but John Prine has since also died.

Tara Diffie shared the last photo she took with her late husband on her Instagram page, with a caption that reads: "You were the love of my life."

Joe Diffie leaves behind five children: Parker, Kara, Drew, Tyler and Kylie, the youngest of which was born in 2004.

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