Olu Jacobs Is Alive, and the Internet Owes Him an Apology

In a development that should surprise absolutely no one who has been paying attention to the past five years, legendary Nigerian actor Olu Jacobs is still alive. Yes, you read that correctly. The man is alive. Breathing. Existing. Meanwhile, half the internet spent the weekend mourning him like he was a beloved sitcom character who got written off in a very special episode. The confusion apparently started when a wave of "RIP Olu Jacobs" posts flooded social media, complete with candle emojis, crying face emojis, and heartfelt tributes from people who clearly got their news from a WhatsApp forward their aunt sent at 2 a.m. The rumor spread faster than a cold in a daycare, and before you knew it, entire timelines were eulogizing a man who was probably at home watching the chaos unfold with a cup of tea and a very tired expression. Let's be clear: Olu Jacobs is a titan. The 82-year-old Nollywood icon has been acting since before most of the people tweeting about him were born. He's been in over 120 films. He's a legend. He's the kind of actor whose presence alone elevates a movie from "straight-to-DVD" to "actually worth your time." And yet, somehow, the internet treated him like a trending topic that needed to be cycled out for engagement. This isn't even the first time this has happened. Olu Jacobs has been "dead" more times than a soap opera character who keeps coming back for sweeps week. Each time, the rumor mill churns, the tributes pour in, and then someone checks the facts and realizes—oops—he's still kicking. It's become a grim annual tradition, like tax season but with more hashtags. The real issue here isn't just the misinformation. It's the way we treat living legends like they're content. We wait for them to die so we can post our "gone too soon" captions and rack up likes on our performative grief. We don't celebrate them while they're here. We don't share their work. We don't talk about their impact. We just wait for the inevitable and then pretend we were their biggest fan all along. Olu Jacobs deserves better. His wife, Joke Silva, deserves better. Their family deserves better than waking up to a fresh wave of condolence messages because someone on Facebook saw a post from 2018 and decided to hit share. The man is alive. He's been battling health issues for years, and that's public knowledge, but battling health issues is not the same as being dead. It's a distinction that apparently requires a flowchart to understand. So here's a radical idea: instead of waiting for someone to die to talk about them, how about we appreciate them while they're here? Watch an Olu Jacobs movie. Share his work. Talk about his legacy. And for the love of all that is holy, fact-check before you post the RIP. The man has given us decades of incredible performances. The least we can do is not kill him off prematurely every few months for internet clout. In conclusion, Olu Jacobs is alive. He's a legend. And the next person who starts a death rumor about him should be forced to watch every single one of his movies back-to-back as punishment. That's not a penalty. That's a gift. You're welcome.