As a wise person once said, “Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.” Contrary to the rumors circulating on social media yesterday, Danny Trejo, 81, is still “very much alive.”
If you’ve ever used social media, you know how quickly false news can spread. But when Trejo’s Infiltrator co-star John Leguizamo, 65, posted about his death, fans started to believe it was real.
Leguizamo re-shared what turned out to be a fake post memorializing the Spy Kids actor originally shared collaboratively from the Polonia News, El Caster Show, El Caster Studio, and La Gringa Prudente Podcast accounts. The post showed images of Trejo with his full name and the dates 1944-2025. “R.i.p.,” the Encanto voice actor wrote over the post, which he shared to his Instagram Stories.
Shortly thereafter, Trejo took to Instagram to share a bit of news himself. “Thank you all for your concern, but I am very much alive,” he wrote in a post for his 3.1 million followers.
“Someone is spreading fake news,” he concluded. “Machete doesn’t die,” one fan replied in the comments. Others blamed Leguizamo’s post for their concern about Trejo.
“…That’s where I saw it too then it suddenly vanished,” another commenter said of the faux death post. “It would major national news if some one like Danny had passed.. thankfully not true….”
The post has since been taken down from Leguizamo’s Instagram Stories.
Trejo remains a working actor, most recently credited for roles in the 2025 films Once the Luckiest Man and the science fiction thriller Cyber Protocol, which is in post-production according to IMDb. He has also done a lot of voice-overs lately. Hear Trejo in Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ninja Turtles, Futurama, Chibiverse and Krapopolis.
