CNN accidentally reports Michael J. Fox dead while he’s still alive
There are celebrity death hoaxes, and then there is turning on the TV and seeing your own obituary.
That’s more like what happened to Michael J. Fox this week after CNN accidentally aired a tribute video that made it look like he had died. Spoiler: he very much hasn’t.
His reaction might be the best part of this whole story. Let’s unpack it all.
The tribute that had fans panicking
At some point this week, a video titled “Remembering the life of actor Michael J. Fox” went live across CNN platforms. It looked exactly like what you’d expect from a memorial piece: career highlights, interviews, the whole thing.
The video was presented like a farewell, except it wasn’t supposed to exist yet, as Fox is alive.
For a moment, people believed it. Fans flooded reactions online, with some saying they nearly had a heart attack. Fox is one of those figures tied to entire eras of TV and film, so the idea of losing him hits fast. After all, he is Doc Brown’s sidekick in Back to the Future. He is Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties, the face of Spin City, and a huge advocate for Parkinson’s research.
Fox did not go quiet
Instead of ignoring it, Fox leaned in. In a post on X, he gave a tongue-in-cheek response listing options for how to react when a major network announces your death.
In his words: “How do you react when you turn on the TV and CNN is reporting your death? Do you…A) Switch to MSNBC, or whatever they are calling themselves these days, (B) Pour scalding hot water on your lap, if it hurts you’re fine, (C) Call your wife, hopefully she’s concerned but reassuring, (D) Relax, they do this once every year, (E) Ask yourself wtf?”
He wrapped his post up by confirming he is “OK.”
CNN owned its mistake. The network pulled the video and issued an apology to Fox and his family, saying the segment was published in error.
This has happened before
As weird as it sounds, untrue death reports are not new. Public figures have been prematurely “reported dead” for decades, from Mark Twain famously correcting reports of his own death, to actors like Abe Vigoda and Jeff Goldblum joking about theirs.
Still, it hits differently when it comes from such a major news outlet.
But fans are happy about how it all turned out. If anything, this moment just reminded people how much Michael J. Fox still means to them.
