Why is ‘Jackie Chan dead’ trending?
JACKIE Chan has enjoyed a long career as a filmmaker, actor, and martial artist, but in December 2023, he made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
2023 has been the year of the celebrity death hoax, with dozens of actors, musicians, and entertainers falling victim to the cruel online trend, the latest being Jackie Chan.
Who is Jackie Chan?
Jackie Chan is a Hong Kong entertainer, actor, stuntman, and martial artist.
He was born on April 7, 1954 in British Hong Kong.
Jackie Chan is best known for his acrobatic fighting style and comedic timing, which he's incorporated into dozens of movies over the years.
He's received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and is recognized as a global megastar.
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Chan has even progressed from acting to music, releasing several albums and theme songs for his feature films.
He's worked with the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, a group of martial artists and trained stuntmen, for most of his films since the group was established in the 1970s.
Jackie Chan has been acting since he was a child, making his debut in the 1962 Hong Kong film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar, also known as Seven Little Valiant Fighters.
Chan's filmography includes over 150 movies, four TV series, and multiple reality TV show appearances.
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He is perhaps best known in Hollywood for starring as Chief Inspector Lee in the Rush Hour film series alongside Chris Tucker, who was also the target of a celebrity death hoax in 2022.
He also starred as Chon Wang, a homophone for John Wayne, in the movie series Shanghai Noon alongside Owen Wilson and Lucy Liu.
While Jackie Chan is known for his comedic roles and action-packed blockbusters, he's also appeared in dramas, including the 2010 remake The Karate Kid alongside Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith's son, Jaden Smith.
Chan has also progressed beyond acting, having directed and produced numerous movies in Hollywood and Hong Kong.
He most recently appeared in the animated movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem in 2023, voicing Splinter, a mutant rat, ninjutsu, and the Turtles' adoptive father.
He is also set to star in Rush Hour 4, confirming in December 2022 that the fourth installment was in development.
In 2016, he received an Academy Honorary Award for his extraordinary achievements in film.
The honorary Oscar was just one of the dozens of awards and accolades he's received globally.
The worldwide star speaks many languages and is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and American Sign Language.
He also speaks German, Spanish, Korean, Thai, and Japanese.
Chan has been married to Joan Lin, a former Taiwanese actress, since 1982, and has two children, including Etta Ng Chok Lam.
Lam is married to Canadian influencer, Andi Autumn.
Why is 'Jackie Chan dead' trending?
Jackie Chan's most recent death hoax occurred in December 2023, when multiple tweets surfaced that the actor had passed away.
Fortunately, the news wasn't true, and the tweets were quickly disproven.
This wasn't Jackie Chan's first death hoax rodeo.
The actor has had to disprove dozens of death rumors in the past.
He most recently had death hoaxes spread about him in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2020, and 2021.
Jackie Chan's insistence on performing his own stunts throughout the years has made him an easy target for the death hoax rumors.
Chan has injured himself plenty of times over the years, breaking his back, spraining ankles, and injuring his neck while shooting films or practicing his stunt work.
His most dramatic injury happened in 1986, on the set of Armour of God.
Chan's character in the film was required to jump from a castle wall onto a tree branch.
When attempting the jump, the branch broke, and Chan landed headfirst on the ground.
He required emergency surgery, with doctors operating on his brain for eight hours to fix his fractured skull.
It was the closest the acclaimed star had come to death, though thanks to the internet, he's "died" plenty of times since then, warding off one fake death rumor after another.
Earlier in the year, in July 2023, Jackie Chan revealed another near-death experience that happened to him while filming the 2020 movie Vanguard.
The actor had been performing a water stunt when he nearly drowned after being unexpectedly trapped underwater by a large rock.
As reported by Fandom Wire, during a press conference in Beijing, Jackie Chan said: "When I took a shower later that night and remembered the incident, I suddenly felt really scared and started shaking."
"I was thinking about how I could have so easily died," he added.
What have fans said about the hoax?
With the rise of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, celebrity death hoaxes have become all too common.
That doesn't stop users from believing the rumors, or from sharing their thoughts on platforms like X, formerly Twitter.
One user chose to poke fun at the rumors, posting a black-and-white photo of Jackie Chan smiling with the caption: "#BREAKING Jackie Chan peacefully passed by a grocery store in Hong Kong today at age 64."
Some users were quick to point out the age discrepancy – Jackie Chan is, in fact, not 64 years old – while others reacted by responding to the tweet with crying laughing emojis.
One disgruntled user even wrote: "god got a special place in h*ll waiting for you."
One user remembered that this situation had happened before, tweeting: "lol, not this sh*t again, i remember when i was in highschool people was thinking Jackie Chan was actually dead."
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In 2021, one of the last times 'Jackie Chan dead' was trending, one user tweeted: "Rest easy Jackie Chan," alongside the prayer hands and a white dove emoji.
He added: "he ain't dead but it's probably bed time in China," next to a bed and Zzz emojis.