Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
A lot of people fear the worst when they see the name of a beloved celebrity suddenly trending online, which is often an indication they’ve passed away. That can also be true if you stumble across an article taking a look back at their life, like the one that CNN published before Michael J. Fox had to let the world know he’s still alive.
In 1998, Michael J. Fox publicly revealed he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease around seven years after he discovered he’d been stricken with the neurodegenerative condition.
The actor, who is best known for playing Marty McFly in the Back to the Future franchise, did not let the disease derail his career.
He’s spent the past 25 years consistently working both behind and in front of the camera on dozens of movies and television shows while managing his symptoms, and while he announced his plans to retire in 2020 due to the impact it’s had on his ability to speak, the 64-year-old recently popped up in a few episodes of Apple TV’s Shrinking.
There will eventually come a time when Fox, just like the rest of us, will pass away, but it was not earlier this week despite what CNN led many people to believe.
CNN issued an apology after running an article that led to Michael J. Fox letting people know he is not, in fact, dead
Media outlets don’t necessarily need an excuse to take a look back at the life of a celebrity, but a very sizeable chunk of those retrospectives end up being published in the immediate wake of the death of a notable pubic figure.
There are also multiple ways to position those pieces, and if you come across a headline that reads “Remembering the life of actor Michael J. Fox” and jump to the conclusion he’s died, you’re certainly not alone based on the number of people who assumed that was the case after encountering it on CNN on Wednesday.
Did @CNN accidentally post an obituary for Michael J Fox (now deleted, just goes to their homepage) or are their headline writers really, really bad? pic.twitter.com/Z87qWbzYkw
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) April 8, 2026
According to TMZ, a rep for Fox issued a statement to clarify he’s alive and well, saying, “Michael is doing great. He was at PaleyFest yesterday. He was on stage and was giving interviews.”
CNN, which took down the article after it managed to cause a stir, also issued a statement of its own addressing the fallout, 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.”