CNN has apologized after accidentally publishing an article and video designed to "remember the life" of Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox.
The article, which has since been pulled, was initially uploaded yesterday to CNN's website, sparking understandable concern for the beloved actor.
Now, in a statement sent to celebrity news website TMZ, a representative for Fox has put fan fears' at ease by confirming that "Michael is doing great" and noting that he had attended a convention this week to give interviews. CNN, meanwhile, has admitted that its article was "published in error."
"We have removed it from our platforms and send our apologies to Michael J. Fox and his family," CNN continued.
Fox was reportedly last seen in public only on Tuesday, at a wrap party for the third season of the Jason Segel and Harrison Ford comedy series Shrinking. The 64-year-old actor has come out of retirement to appear in the show, which features a prominent character (played by Ford) who has Parkinson's disease.
Of course, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's back in 1990, aged just 29, and has gone on to become one of the world's most prominent advocates for research to help combat the disease. As well as helping raise more than $2 billion in donations, Fox released the documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie in 2023, and made a voice cameo in Zootopia 2 as Michael J. The Fox.
In a post on Threads, Fox issued a statement on the "news": "How do you react when you turn on the TV and CNN is reporting your death? Do you…A) switch to MNSBC, or whatever they are calling themselves these days, (B) Pour scolding hot water on your lap, if it hurts your fine, (C) Call your wife, hopefully she’s concerned but reassuring, (D) Relax, they do this once every year, (E) Ask yourself wtf ? I thought the world was ending, but apparently it’s just me and I’m ok. Love, Mike."
In October last year, Fox addressed a "temporal inconsistency" in his iconic Back to the Future guitar scene in his new memoir, Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum. In June 2025, Fox and Gibson launched a search for the ES-345 after it went missing following the release of the film. “We need your help, we’re trying to find the guitar I played in Back to the Future,” Fox told fans. “It’s somewhere lost in the space-time continuum, or it’s in some teamster’s garage.”
Meanwhile, last month, Fox's fellow Shrinking co-star Harrison Ford made headlines of his own by confirming he had listened to the soundtracks from some of his classic films while getting busy in the bedroom.
Image credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
source https://www.ign.com/articles/michael-is-doing-great-cnn-personally-apologises-to-michael-j-fox-and-his-family-after-article-and-video-suggested-the-back-to-the-future-star-had-died