Was actor Jamie Foxx left paralyzed and blind after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: information about Jamie Foxx being left "paralyzed and blind" purportedly due to COVID-19 vaccination is solely based on unsubstantiated allegations. The actor's representatives refuted the false claim, calling it "completely inaccurate."
The claim originated in a TikTok video (archived here) published on June 5, 2023, which opened with a flashing "Warning" sign. It continued with the words of Florida's Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, shown speaking in a video from Florida's Voice, stating:
... People believe that what is happening isn't actually happening. These vaccines have a terrible safety profile. At this point in pandemic, I'm not sure that anyone should be taking them and that is the honest truth.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Jul 5 21:08:43 2023 UTC)
At 1:03 mark, the TikTok video continues with a compilation of website articles and video materials claiming that the Academy Award-winning actor was left paralyzed and blind after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
Social media users in Bulgaria shared posts related to Jamie Foxx's health linking his conditions to the COVID-19 vaccination:
Jamie Foxx was left 'paralyzed and blind' from a 'blood clot in his brain' after receiving a COF-19 vaccine, a source claims. The 'Django Unchained' star is reportedly 'partially paralyzed and blind' in addition to a series of other complications after receiving the COF-19 vaccine, Hollywood journalist AJ Benza claims, after speaking with a source close to Foxx.
(Translation from Bulgarian into English by Lead Stories staff).
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Jul 5 21:31:56 2023 UTC)
In April 2023, Jamie Foxx was hospitalized after an unspecified "medical complication". The false claims linking his health conditions to COVID-19 vaccines were first made by gossip columnist and podcast host A.J. Benza during an appearance on May 30, 2023, on the Ask Dr. Drew podcast, hosted by the popular media personality and physician Dr. Drew Pinsky. Benza himself admitted to not having first-hand information but that his source was "somebody in the room" who told him that "Jamie had a blood clot in his brain."
On May 12, 2023, the actor's daughter, Corinne Foxx, confirmed that Foxx was out of the hospital and "recuperating":
(Source: Screenshot taken on Wed Jul 5 21:07:10 2023 UTC)
There is no evidence that Foxx is currently paralyzed or blind due to a blood clot in the brain after receiving a COVID-19 m-RNA vaccine that resulted in his hospitalization, as has been shared on social media.
The unsubstantiated claim is part of a continued push among some far-right personalities to cast doubt on the safety of vaccines, even though several studies and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others, have affirmed that vaccines are safe and effective.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to vaccines can be found here.
