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A photo of a bedridden patient claiming to be British comedian Mr Bean’s current condition has grabbed a lot of attention on social media. However, our Fact Crescendo team investigation revealed that this was yet another hoax.
Social Media Posts:
A series of social media posts went viral comparing what Mr Bean looked like in the 1990s and what he presently looks like in 2024, in a fragile condition on what appears to be a hospital bed. Facebook posts mentioning how heartbreaking it is to see Mr. Bean in this condition can be seen below.
These photo comparisons were viral among Sinhala users as well.
Here is an instance of the same claim going viral in TikTok.
Fact Check
Using a keyword search, we first looked for news reports about the beloved comedian Mr. Bean or Rowan Atkinson being severely sick. We couldn’t find such reports; however, we came across a recent interview uploaded on July 10, 2024, with Rowan Atkinson at a Formula One race event. His interviews were featured on YouTube channels such as Behind Grand Prix and Zero Racing.
Additionally, when we conducted a reverse image search of the viral photo, we discovered a news article published by the British media outlet ‘The Mirror’ on January 31, 2020. The main image of the article, with the headline “Seriously ill man weighing 7st (45kg) refused free social care—and dies very next day,” resembled the purported viral image of Mr Bean becoming a bedridden patient.
We found some more news articles featuring the same photo from 2020. News Link
According to this news, the sick and older man named Barry Balderstone, who was suffering from a range of medical conditions, died due to lack of proper medical assistance.
When we compared the two photos, we noticed that Barry Balderstone’s face had been edited to resemble Mr. Bean. The photo comparison is seen below.
Mr Bean has been the subject of fake death hoaxes multiple times in the past as well, and here is a fact check by our Factcrescendo team on such fake posts back in 2021.
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Conclusion:
Our investigation shows that the viral photo claiming to be Mr Bean’s current state is an altered image. The actual photo features a person who died in 2020. A few days ago, Rowan Atkinson was seen at an interview at a Formula One racing event and was in good health.
Our Tamil language article regarding the same claim can be found here.
Title:Photo Showing the Sad State of the Beloved Comedian Mr. Bean? Find out the facts…
Fact Check By: S.G.PrabuResult: False
