Jackie Chan: Alive and well despite viral death hoaxes
Action star Jackie Chan is still alive.
Image: Jade Gao / AFP
He’s an Oscar-winning martial artist who has survived jumping off cliffs and dangling from helicopters, but the 71-year-old action legend Jackie Chan can’t seem to outrun the internet’s persistent celebrity death hoaxes.
In the latest, completely false, viral scare, artificial intelligence has played a major role, feeding fans a lie that rapidly spread across social media.
The panic began on November 10 when a Facebook page, "Stories About Us," posted an emotional message that shocked his fans.
Accompanying the post was a convincing, yet disturbing, AI-generated image of a smiling Chan lying in a hospital bed, holding a stuffed panda toy.
The caption read: "Today, the most beloved person in the world cinema, all of our hearts, had passed away, especially our generation, a worthy actor, a great Kung Fu player, the man with the funny laugh, Jackie Chan, has passed away."
Fake Facebook post.
Image: Screenshot
The combination of sentimental phrasing and the highly realistic (but fake) photo led fans to search engines looking for confirmation.
Thankfully, the rumour was shut down after fans actually checked the facts.
X (formerly Twitter) users were among the first to debunk the claim.
User @digitalGal_X wrote: "Facebook's latest fake news: Jackie Chan has passed. He hasn't."
Another user, @NoahMKE, perfectly captured the emotional whiplash of the moment, tweeting: "Thank God I checked Twitter about Jackie Chan because I was about to tweak."
The truth is simple: The “Rush Hour” star is alive, well, and actively working on new film projects, one being “The Shadow's Edge.”
For the actor, this isn't a new experience.
Chan has been the subject of recurring death hoaxes for over a decade, with false reports surfacing numerous times.
One of the most famous early hoaxes prompted Chan to address the rumours directly in 2015.
He assured his fans, saying, “I was shocked by two news reports when I got off the plane. First of all, don't worry! I'm still alive.”
Other false posts have repeatedly claimed he died from unspecified health complications or passed away "after a battle with complications from decades of on-set injuries."
Chan, who has openly discussed his many legitimate near-death experiences (including a fractured skull during the filming of Armour of God in 1986), often finds himself having to reassure the world that he has not, in fact, met his end.
His worldwide appeal is precisely why these hoaxes gain so much traction.
With a career spanning over 200 films, he remains one of the most recognisable figures in cinema, having revolutionised the action genre.
His unique role is defined by his signature style of seamlessly blending martial arts with slapstick humour.
The internet may try to write his final chapter, but for now, the action star is very much still here!