MOVIE NEWS – There is always something perversely funny about news being so wildly wrong that it instantly turns into an online spectacle. Michael J. Fox has now become the latest celebrity caught in exactly that kind of mess after CNN published, and then removed, a tribute-style video that effectively treated him as dead while he is very much still alive and perfectly capable of mocking the whole thing himself.
It is always amusing when a news story is so glaringly wrong that it starts trending online all by itself. In an age soaked in social media, false celebrity death reports have become depressingly common. Sometimes an obituary from years ago resurfaces and trolls eagerly jump in to type old news! Other times, things get even worse, and a living celebrity is mistakenly declared dead, forcing them to publicly confirm that they are, in fact, still here. And that is before even touching the bizarre Avril Lavigne conspiracy theory about her supposedly dying and being replaced by a proxy living her life for her.
The latest famous victim of that circus is Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox, who was effectively declared dead by a media outlet before surfacing very much alive. In a now-removed feature, CNN published a video remembering Fox’s life, leading the actor to respond on Threads with the question: How do you react when you turn on the TV and CNN is reporting your death? Being Michael J. Fox, he did not leave the answer hanging there for long and instead replied to himself with the kind of dark humor that made the whole thing even more surreal.
Do you… A) switch to MNSBC, or whatever they are calling themselves these days, B) Pour scolding hot water on your lap, if it hurts your fine, C) Call your wife, hopefully she’s concerned but reassuring, D) Relax, they do this once every year, E) Ask yourself wtf? I thought the world was ending, but apparently it’s just me and I’m ok. Love, Mike.
TMZ was immediately all over the story as well, joining in with the line that everyone can take a deep breath… Michael J. Fox is alive. Fox’s representatives also responded quickly, reminding the public that he had been at PaleyFest just the day before doing interviews. Fox has been living with Parkinson’s since 1992 and has made only limited public appearances since 2020, although he has continued to take smaller roles in film and television. More recently, he has been back in the press because of a surprise appearance in Apple TV’s Shrinking.
As expected, social media feeds were quickly flooded with mockery over the major blunder. A CNN spokesperson eventually issued a statement saying, The package was published in error; we have removed it from our platforms and send our apologies to Michael J. Fox and his family. It is not difficult to imagine the CNN intern or employee who accidentally published the remembrance package now updating a LinkedIn profile picture with the Open to Work border. Still, now that everyone can relax and accept that Fox is very much still here, there are worse plans for the weekend than revisiting the Back to the Future trilogy. Maybe throw on a few old episodes of Spin City as well. And for anyone raised on the 1980s, channeling a little Alex P. Keaton through Family Ties is not exactly a bad option either. You really cannot go too wrong there.
Source: MovieWeb
