Fact Check: Yet Another Death Hoax on British Comedian Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean)!

Many viral photos attached with a claim saying “Mr. Bean has just passed away” were posted recently on Facebook as well as other social media platforms. It was reshared and reacted with many mixed comments and was consumed as a real incident by many Facebook users. However, after clarifying with his official agent we were able to clarify that it was yet another death hoax on this world famous British Comedian

This is about our investigation of this claim.

Social Media Claims

On November 23, 2021, one of the Facebook pages called “O Dear” posted a photo attached with the text claiming “Rest In Peace” on the portrait photo of a famous comedy actor, Rowan Sebastian Atkinson or famously known as “Mr. Bean”. The description went on to say that the 1955 born English actor, comedian and writer is best known for his work on the sitcoms Blackadder (1983–1989) and Mr. Bean (1990–1995).

Below is a screenshot captured from the Facebook page with the caption in English saying “R.I.P sir Rowan Sebastian “Mr.bean” Atkinson Born: January 6,1995-Died: November 22, 2021”. 

Facebook Post | Archived Link

Similarly, this claim was widely spread by many Facebook pages and users. The photo attached with the claim that “he has passed away” is also seen in a Facebook page called “Agaba Francis Page” which was posted last morning.  

Facebook Post | Archived Link

Fact Check

Fact Crescendo Sri Lanka had started to check and verify this claim directly by clarifying with his official agent and checking with reliable sources.

We had contacted the official agent of Rowan, PBJ management regarding this viral claim. “PBJ Management” rejected that viral claim and clearly stated that “We can safely say that Mr Atkinson is absolutely fine”.

Rowan Atkinson, also known as Mr Bean around the world, has become a target of death hoax a couple times already. We have found that just a few months earlier in late May, 2021, there was a similar claim also stating “he has passed away” as well.

The following snapshot is captured from AFP Fact Check which shows the claim since May 29, 2021. 

AFP Fact Check | Archived Link

The reemergence of the fake Tweets could be one of the reasons for spreading this rumor. This fake news, named as FOX breaking news, has been emerging a few times since a few years ago.

Foreign media reports say that those rumors are completely false. The reports about that can be reached from here and here. Archived link.

We also noticed that few news publishers and fan pages had published posts about Mr. Bean being featured in the upcoming sixth season of Peaky Blinders series as seen here, here and here

Sinhala version of this fact check can be seen here.

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Conclusion

Fact Crescendo Sri Lanka has found that the reemerging death claims related to Mr. Rowan Atkinson aka Mr .Bean and absolutely false. “PBJ Management '', his official agent confirmed to Fact crescendo Sri Lanka on November 23, 2021 that the world renowned British comedian is absolutely fine.