Jamie Foxx did not suffer a “vaccine injury” from COVID-19, a spokesperson for the Oscar-winning actor has confirmed — finally putting the rumors to rest.
In an email sent to NBC News on Wednesday (June 7), an unnamed spokesperson for the multi-hyphenate made it clear that the claims about his alleged COVID-19 vaccine injury are “completely inaccurate.”
Though the representative didn’t elaborate further on what his client was being hospitalized for, they did make it clear that recent claims about Jamie Foxx being “partially paralyzed and blind” were fundamentally false.
The claim, which went viral on social media, was originally started by far-right provocateur Charlie Kirk, and amplified when gossip columnist A.J. Benza and Dr. Drew Pinksy talked about it on an episode of Benza’s podcast. Benza claimed that he had a source “in the room” with Foxx when he was supposedly forced to get the COVID vaccine, after which he allegedly had a stroke due to a blood clot.
The Yale University School of Medicine confirmed that blood clots can be a side effect of COVID-19, and that there is a miniscule risk of getting a blood clot if one chooses to get the Johnson & Johnson version of the COVID-19 vaccine. However, the CDC confirmed that “vaccine injury” is extremely rare, occurring in only five of every one million vaccines administered.
This is not the first time that representatives for Jamie Foxx have had to debunk baseless claims about the actor, who was first hospitalized for an undisclosed “medical complication” back in April.
Last month, his daughter Corrine had to take to Instagram to clear up unsubstantiated rumors about her father’s health, and made clear at that time that any report that didn’t come directly from the Foxx family was to be disregarded.
“Update from the family: Sad to see how the media runs wild. My Dad has been out of the hospital for weeks, recuperating,” she wrote. “In fact, he was playing pickleball yesterday! Thanks for everyone’s prayers and support.”
There were plenty of conflicting reports regarding the Academy Award winner since Corinne revealed that Foxx was hospitalized for an unspecified medical complication on April 12 while in Atlanta filming for Netflix’s Back in Action.
Over a week later, a source close to the actor/singer told PEOPLE that he was “awake and alert.”
“He’s OK, thank God,” the source said. “He’s still in the hospital and doctors are running tests but he’s awake and alert. They’re keeping him under observation.”
Following a few weeks of hospitalization and receiving encouragement from friends and fans, the actor/singer took to Instagram last month with a message for fans. “Appreciate all the love!!! Feeling blessed,” Foxx wrote in his Instagram post.
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