Canadian actor’s death from 12 surgeries to look like BTS’ Jimin is hoax using AI images: Report

Earlier this week, several global news reports shared that 22-year-old Canadian actor Saint Von Colucci died at a hospital in South Korea. The actor had reportedly undergone 12 surgeries to look like BTS member Jimin. It now appears that the entire story is false and backed with images using AI (artificial intelligence). The news was sent to global media outlets by a company called The Hype Company PR which made several claims about the actor being discriminated against for his looks in Korea and therefore he went through numerous cosmetic surgeries to change his looks. (Also read: BTS’ Jimin poses with Pharrell Williams and sends fans into frenzy at NYC, Suga rocks his first D-Day solo concert)

BTS consists of RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook. While the K-pop group is widely known for their hit tracks, their members also have a huge fan following across the globe for their good-looks. Member Jimin was recently seen at a launch event in New York.

According to a new report in Variety, the facts in the Saint Von Colucci story do not add up. The earlier report, which has also appeared in Daily Mail, featured a quote by Saint Von’s publicist Eric Blake who spoke about his death and his reasons behind the surgeries. Eric told Daily Mail, “It is very tragic and very unfortunate. He was very insecure about his looks. He had a very square jawline and chin and he didn’t like the shape of it because he thought it was too wide and wanted a V-shape, the shape many Asians have. He was very insecure about his face. It was very hard for him to get a job in South Korea and he felt very discriminated against his Western looks.”

The Variety report also found inconsistencies in the press releases including the fact that Saint Von was said to be the son of Brazilian model Adriana Lima and a hedge fund CEO named Geovani Lamas. The actor’s online presence is mostly made of his Instagram page under the name @papaxxzy features hazy images and no comments, giving little information about him or his so-called work. No one has come forward to mourn the actor’s death. Furthermore, the name of the hospital where he died, Seoul National Hospital, is made up and does not exist.

The Daily Mail’s online story has since been taken down without any explanation. Another Al Jazeera report also stated that the media in South Korea haven’t found any police report about a Canadian actor dying due to complications from plastic surgeries.

Earlier this year, Jimin made his solo debut. He released his first solo album, titled Face.