K-Pop Star Kim Jaejoong Says April Fools’ Day Prank About COVID-19 Hospitalization Was To Raise Awareness

In what initially looked like a serious post on Instagram, K-pop star Kim Jaejoong revealed to his 1.9 million followers that he had contracted COVID-19 and was currently hospitalized receiving treatment. The since-deleted post was later clarified to be an April Fools’ Day prank and, apparently, an effort to raise awareness.

Upon the news initially breaking, Kim’s representative label and agency C-Jes Entertainment RGC in Korea responded to reports saying they were checking to confirm as the star was currently in Japan. Just yesterday (March 31), the 34-year-old had appeared on the Japanese music show Utacon alongside other popular acts like J-pop girl group Nogizaka46 and pop-R&B singer May J.

Fifty minutes after posting, the singer updated his caption to reveal it was for April Fools’ Day, clarifying that he did not make the concerning post as a joke but as an alert for people to better take care of themselves. He said that while he “did go quite far for April Fool’s Day,” he has family and friends who “are getting sick…and dying.”

The full post has been translated in full by K-pop news site Soompi. An excerpt is below:

“Although this did go quite far for April Fool’s Day, so many people worried about me in a short span of time…Oh and I don’t think of this as an April Fool’s joke. My family and my friends are getting sick..and dying..it’s never !! just someone else’s problem. I wanted to tell you that protecting myself is protecting the precious people around us…I will accept all punishment I receive from this post. I hope all of you are healthy.”

In the original post, the singer-actor apologized for his diagnosis and said he ignored advice from the government and those around him (per Soompi’s translation).

As previously reported, coronavirus concerns have caused many hits to the K-pop industry as many overseas events have been canceled or postponed, TV shows have been halted or continue without audiences, and some artists have even pushed back music plans. While there have been concerns from certain artists visiting other affected countries, no K-pop artist has been affected by the disease yet.

Both Japan and South Korea have been dealing with the effects of the global pandemic. Korea has reported just under 10,000 cases to date, with 165 deaths, while Japan has reported just over 2,000 cases and 57 deaths. Both countries have largely been able to “flatten” their curves when it has come to rising coronavirus cases. To date, there have been more than 850,000 cases of coronavirus around the world and more than 42,000 deaths.

As a former member of boy band TVXQ! as well as the trio JYJ, Kim Jaejoong has been active in the music industry for more than 15 years. Following his debut with TVXQ! in 2003, he’s moved on to release several solo albums in both Korea and Japan (recently topping Japan’s local Oricon ICLR singles chart with “Brava!! Brava!! Brava!!”) and has branched out into TV acting in both territories as well.