Bob Marley was best known for uplifting songs about love and peace, but 40 years on from his death wild claims of sinister assassination plots persist.
The Jamaican singer died of cancer on May 11, 1981, at the tragically young age of 36.
He was at the height of his fame and an international superstar thanks to hits like No Woman, No Cry and One Love.
But the cause of his death has been subject to conspiracy theories and rumours ever since.
On December 3, 1976, Marley was shot in an attempted assassination attempt in Kingston, Jamaica.
Seven armed men raided the house of the singer two days before he was due to stage a concert in an attempt to quell recent violence.
While Marley remained politically neutral, many viewed him as supporting the prime minister Michael Manley and his democratic socialist People’s National Party.
Marley's wife, Rita, was shot in the head in her car in the driveway. The gunmen shot Marley in the chest and arm.
His manager, Don Taylor, was shot in the legs and torso. Band employee, Louis Griffiths took a bullet to his torso as well. Astonishingly, there were no fatalities
Marley and three others were shot, but all survived. The gunmen were caught, tried, and executed.
But in 2018, rappers T.I. and Busta Rhymes, reignited a bizarre conspiracy theory about the death of the musical legend.
They shared a screenshot on Instagram of an article quoting a supposed ex-CIA agent called Bill Oxley.
According to the article on Vanguard, a Nigerian news site, Oxley claimed he had “infected Marley with cancer” when he was posing as a New York Times photographer in order to gain access to the singer at his Blue Mountains retreat in Jamaica.
Oxley said he ‘infected’ Marley with ‘cancer viruses and bacteria’ by pricking his toe.
“I gave him a pair of Converse All Stars. Size 10. When he tried on the right shoe, he screamed out”, Oxley is quoted as saying.
The story claims he was killed because he was “starting a revolution”.
On his deathbed, 79-year-old Oxley is also said to have claimed Marley was one of 17 people he killed for the CIA between 1974 and 1985.
Although some people questioned how Marley contracted fatal melanoma that spread from his toe to his brain, the Oxley theory was dismissed by, among others, debunking site Snopes which said it could find no record of a Bill or William Oxley having any association with the CIA.
The website claimed the story originated on the website of a former BBC journalist who previously worked for notorious conspiracy theorist David Icke.
After a four-year cancer battle, Marley died from brain cancer in 1981 in Miami.
- CIA
- Cancer
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