Fact Check

Actor Cassi Davis Is Alive, Despite Death Hoax Shared Online

Fellow entertainer Tyler Perry posted on Instagram that he talked to Davis on the phone.

Published Feb. 20, 2023

Actor Cassi Davis arrives at a premiere on Oct. 16, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images) (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
Actor Cassi Davis arrives at a premiere on Oct. 16, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
Claim:
Actor Cassi Davis died in February 2023.

On Feb. 19, 2023, a rumor was spreading on Facebook, YouTube, and at least one article that claimed "House of Payne" star Cassi Davis was dead and had passed away after a battle with lung cancer. However, she was still alive. This was nothing more than a death hoax.

Further, we found no information that she had ever been diagnosed with lung cancer.

Aside from her role as Ella Payne on "House of Payne," Davis is also known for her character of Aunt Bam from the "Madea" movies.

In an Instagram post from fellow entertainer Tyler Perry, who created both "House of Payne" and the "Madea" movies, he said he had spoken with Davis over the phone and confirmed she was both alive and full of jokes.

Perry wrote in the caption of the post, "I called her and asked her was she dead and she said hell no!"

After I've gotten several calls from people giving me their condolences and I didn't know what they were talking about, I was sent this article that's going around.

I don't know how she could have died and nobody told me or her. So I called her and asked her was she dead and she said hell no!

Can whoever is responsible for this please stop you better be careful when you speak death over a child of God.

This woman is loved by millions and you're hurting a lot of people.

Cassi is fine living her best life with no worries, no cares, no social media, and no drama. She's waiting to shoot the next season of House of Payne.

In the Instagram video, Perry spoke over a screenshot of a death hoax article that read, "American actress Cassie [sic] Davis died of lung cancer at the age of 58."

Perry said Davis told him this was at least the third or fourth time a death hoax had used her name. She also joked that she figured she's "died more times than a cat."

All right, so, I've been getting these calls, so I had to post this which I didn't want to but I'm supposed to because of people calling me and crying. I'm getting texts saying, like, "My condolences, Tyler." I'm just like, "What is going on?"

They said, you know, "We heard that Cassi died." I'm like, "Cassi who?"

"Cassi Davis. Miss Ella. 'House of Payne.' Aunt Bam."

I was like, uhhh, I just talked to her on the phone and she wasn't dead but let me call her back.

So anyway, I call her up and say, "Cassi, you know about these death hoaxes?"

She said, "Yes, Tyler. This is the third or fourth time this has happened, and people just need to stop doing this."

I was like, "Yeah, you gotta be careful when you speak death over a child of God." So, we started talking and in pure Cassi fashion she started making some crazy jokes.

I said, "Cassi, you sure you're not dead?" She said, "Well, I feel like I'm in heaven because these chicken wings I'm eating are so good. (laughing) So we talked about that for a minute."

She saw the article. Somebody sent it to her. And in the article, I'm crying and Al Sharpton is at the funeral. And she said, "When I saw that Al Sharpton was at my funeral, I tried to call him to just thank him."

(laughing)

She also said that she's died more times than a cat. (laughing) She went on to say that when she really dies nobody's going to believe it. She'll be like the boy who cried wolf, and the wolf ate her obituary. I mean, Cassi is hilarious.

I assured her. I said, "Cassi don't worry, when you die for real," I know this is crazy ... this is our sense of humor, "I said when you die for real, I will make the official announcement." She said, "Thank you, but I'm sure I'm going to outlive you."

(laughing)

Then she asked if she could have the funeral at my pool. Let me tell you something about Cassi and my pool. Cassi will be swimming in my pool, and security will let her in, she's just swimming, so I come home from traveling and I walk out to the backyard and she's just in the pool.

She's like, "Damn, what are you doing here?"

I'm like, "This is my house! I live here!"

The rest of the video is available on Instagram.

We previously reported on other death hoaxes for celebrities including Bruce Willis, Simon Cowell, Sylvester Stallone, and Jaden Smith, all of which appeared to have the aim of getting readers to mistakenly install malware on their devices. This might also have been the case with the death hoax for Davis.

Sources

"American Actress Cassie Davis ' Aunt Bam' Dead at 58, Cause of Death Shocking, Signs Were There ????????." YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzaVCnxvXGg.

Perry, Tyler. "Instagram." Instagram, 20 Feb. 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/Co42FGsrDyN/.

Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016.

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