Jerry Lee Lewis remains alive despite a report from TMZ that the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer has died. The story sparked a wave of grief before it was pulled from the site on Wednesday.
“He’s alive. TMZ erroneously reported an anonymous bullshit tip,” Lewis’ rep told Variety.
Lewis is known to be suffering from the flu this month; He was unable to attend the October 16 Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where his wife accepted the honor on his behalf, so saying he was “alive and well” may be exaggerating either of those things. But TMZ admitted they got a bum tip about his alleged death.
“Earlier this morning we were told by someone claiming to be Lewis’ representative that he had passed,” TMZ said in a revision of his article. “That turned out not to be the case. TMZ regrets the error.”
Following the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a photo was released of Kris Kristofferson visiting the flu-stricken Lewis at home to personally present him with his medallion.
The Lewis misreport is the second time in recent weeks that a major musical personality has been mistakenly reported dead after People magazine ran a story and tweeted that Joni Mitchell had died. In this case, it was more easily spotted as a mistake by readers because the story and headline included “TKs,” marking them as a requirement with spaces to be filled in prior to publishing an obituary.
Despite being away from the concert scene, Lewis felt well enough to make it from Memphis to Nashville in May when the Country Hall of Fame recipients were announced, posed for photos and attended a press conference.
Aside from the Hall of Fame honor, Lewis will soon be celebrated even more with the Ethan Coen-directed documentary about the rocker Trouble in Mind. The document has no scheduled release date but was praised when it premiered in Cannes in May; Read Variety critic Owen Gleiberman’s review here.