Chow Yun-fat this week joined a prestigious list, alongside the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Jeff Goldblum, Britney Spears, and Miley Cyrus. What do these people have in common? The internet reported they were dead when, in fact, they are still very much alive.
The confusion began in the mainland when what looked like a screengrab from a news broadcast circulated online. The screengrab featured the caption “Number one king of film Chow Yun-fat failed to respond to medical treatment, died yesterday in Hong Kong”, and a picture of Chow from the film God of Gamblers.
One outlet even posted photos of what they claimed to be brother Fat’s funeral. They included a photo of entertainer Andy Lau paying his respects, and another purporting to show kung fu legends Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung as pall bearers.
The photo of Chan and Hung was actually taken in 2014 during the funeral of Hong Kong actor, director and producer Wu Ma.
News of Chow’s “death” had somenow not reached Hong Kong at this point. So Apple Daily decided to call Chow’s wife Jasmine Tan to verify the rumors or offer condolences.
Tan, who recently starred in a 15-part interview with the Chinese-language paper, titled My Husband is Brother Fat, quickly put the nonsense to rest.
“I’m so lucky! My husband is well, he is resting at home, and not only that he is in good health,” she said.
Phew!
