A wild Jamie Foxx, COVID vaccine conspiracy took over social media. There’s no evidence to back it up

If you spent any time on social media Thursday you probably saw the Jamie Foxx story trending.

And, if you didn’t, good for you. The weather is nice. Probably good to put down the phone and get out for a bit after the past couple of years. But, either way, the story that was floated out there was a heartbreaker at first glance.

That story?

Well, OK! Magazine had a whole headline that read, “Health Shocker: Jamie Foxx Left ‘Paralyzed and Blind’ From ‘Blood Clot in His Brain’ After Receiving COVID-19 Vaccine, Source Claims.”

That extra-long, eye-catching headline was all vaccine conspiracy theorists needed. They took it, posted it up on social, and ran with it.

Read past the headline, though, and the sourcing is, at best, questionable. In fact, there are two sources cited in the piece. The first source is Foxx’s daughter, Corrine, who said in May on Instagram that her father was out of the hospital and even playing pickleball.

“Update from the family: Sad to see how the media runs wild,” she wrote. “My dad has been out of the hospital for weeks recuperating. In fact, he was playing pickleball yesterday! Thanks for everyone’s prayers and support!”

She also teased an “exciting work announcement” that was coming up, too.

That is the transparent source in the story.

The second source — the one that led to that eye-catching headline — is gossip columnist A.J. Benza, who made the comments while appearing on a podcast hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky. Pinsky, who made his name on MTV’s “Loveline” a long, long, long time ago, is still out there and his new thing appears to be vaccine conspiracy, too. So, Benza found a home for his story.

“Jamie had a blood clot in his brain after he got the shot,” Benza said. “He did not want the shot, but the move he was on, he was pressured to get it.

“The blood clot in the brain caused him at that point to be partially paralyzed and blind.”

Benza claimed that he was getting the information from “someone in the room,” with Foxx. He also claimed the pickleball story was “all lies” and “baloney.”

“If you read what they were saying early on, ‘He is communicating with us.’ That doesn’t mean talking,” Benza said. “That could be anything. Writing. Sign language. I know those little code words.

“Then you tell me your father is playing pickleball, give me a break,” he added. “There is a great shroud of secrecy around Jamie Foxx.”

It all, sort of, feels like the whole conspiracy theory that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin actually died on the field when he went into cardiac arrest in January and was replaced by a body double. That was another COVID vaccine conspiracy. Of course, Hamlin is alive and well. He is even back practicing with the Bills.

Anyway, back to this Foxx story that blew up on social. The sourcing certainly doesn’t seem reliable, and there are plenty of questions. Why would anyone in the room with Foxx feed Benza information? And, if they were feeding him information, why would he say “there is a great shroud of secrecy” around Foxx?

Wouldn’t Benza know since he claims to have a contact “in the room?”

What is certain is the the rumor mill has been working overtime since the 55-year-old star suffered a “medical complication” back on April 11 while filming his new movie “Back in Action.” This may be the most prolific of those rumors, though.

Foxx clearly had a serious “medical complication” — the family has said that — but there is no reason to believe Benza over the actor’s own daughter, especially now.

A study of more than 4.1 million people earlier this year found no evidence of higher rates of strokes for vaccinated people a month after vaccination. And, another study, conducted in 2022 reportedly failed to show evidence of a higher stroke rate, as well, for those who have been vaccinated.

But, unfortunately, the sourcing and reliability didn’t matter on social media as folks pounced. Charlie Kirk shared the story on Twitter and wrote, “Those of us who spoke against the mRNA shot were attacked in every imaginable way. I am infuriated a decent person like Jamie Foxx fell victim to Big Pharma because a movie set is still dumb enough to mandate their cash cow clot shot.”

And, just like that, Jamie Foxx was trending and many of the folks fed right into the narrative.

But there were others who didn’t.

“His daughter said a couple of weeks ago he was home playing pickleball,” someone wrote while retweeting Kirk. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to take his daughter’s word over some gossip column.”

“Source: Trust me bro,” another user wrote while retweeting Kirk.

“Anyways, Jamie Foxx has hypertension which significantly increases your risk of having a stroke (aka a blood clot in your brain),” someone else wrote. “I hope his family sues you for trying to make his health a political statement. Absolute weirdos.”