Cassi Davis, an actor known for starring in “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” and its spinoff, “The Paynes,” is not dead, according to Tyler Perry.
Perry himself shut down the rumors with an Instagram post on Feb. 20 showing a headline that said Davis had died at the age of 58 from lung cancer, along with the words “This is a lie” splashed over it.
“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,” he captioned the post.
“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!”
Perry aired his outrage over the false story.
“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,” he wrote.
“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.”
Representatives for Perry told TODAY.com that he had no additional comment beyond the Instagram caption.
Palmer Williams Jr., who starred on “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne,” also refuted the reports of Davis’ death.
“Cassie Davis is NOT DEAD!!!!!” he captioned a post on Instagram on Feb. 19.
“She’s very much alive,” he said in a video.
“If you know the person responsible for spreading that rumor, tell them to stop,” he added.
Davis has appeared in multiple Perry projects, most notably as Ella and Aunt Bam in several "Madea" titles.