Don't you forget about him. Judd Nelson may not be as visible as he once was, but he is alive and well — despite rumors to the contrary circulating online over the weekend. Like so many other stars before him, the Breakfast Club actor, 55, was the victim of a death hoax.
Chatter about his possible demise began on Sunday, Oct. 26, when a website with a "foxnews.es" URL claimed that Nelson had been found dead the previous night in his L.A. condo. His agent, Gregg Klein, set the record straight to the Los Angeles Times later that same afternoon.
Klein sent the Times a picture of the Brat Pack member holding a copy of Sunday's paper as proof of life. He added: "Reports of Judd Nelson's death are not accurate, please see attached photo."
The actor's manager, Jean-Pierre Henraux, also dispelled the rumors, telling the Times that Nelson is in "perfect" shape and in fact just finished filming an appearance on the upcoming Fox series Empire.
According to IMDb, the '80s hunk has several other projects slated for the next couple of years, including the horror flick Private Number and the Lou Ferrigno-starring The Bandit Hound. He also guest-starred semi-recently on the now-defunct TV shows Nikita and The Neighbors, and attended a reunion with his Breakfast Club costars in 2010, in honor of the film's 25th anniversary.
After his supposed death was exposed as a hoax, several people took to Twitter to express their relief, and to make a few jokes about Nelson's career. Washingtonian writer Benjamin Freed, for example, quipped: "Judd Nelson is not dead. And that concludes our biennial update on Judd Nelson's waning cultural relevancy."
Sci-fi writer John Scalzi, meanwhile — who had earlier tweeted a link to the article that started it all — referenced the star's Breakfast Club character, writing, "I feel I should apologize to Judd Nelson, but I'm afraid [he'd] pull a Bender and give me an atomic wedgie or something."
