Some rumors die fastest when you don’t feed them a reaction.

A rumour needs motion to stay alive, and a reaction is the motion. Denying it, arguing about it or going quiet in a loud way all hand it fresh material and tell everyone it landed. Left alone, most of them run out of interest within a week because there is nothing new to pass along. That is unfair, since the person who did nothing wrong has to do the waiting.

If something is going around about you, pick one or two people who matter and tell them the truth once. Everyone else gets your ordinary behaviour. Keep going to practice, keep sitting where you sit.