A video has gone viral on social media, allegedly showing the final moments of the cremation ceremony of the late Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu. This is false. It is the funeral of a different person.
A reader requested verification through the VERA Files’ Misinformation Tip Line of the origin of the viral video first published last Feb. 7. Two users uploaded the clip on Instagram and Threads. One of the videos bore the erroneous caption:
“Na cremate na si Shan Cai. Nakakaiyak makita yung mga naiwan nya lalo na ang mga anak nya. Barbie Hsu 徐熙媛 Shan Cai (Shan Cai has been cremated. It’s heartbreaking to watch her loved ones, especially her children).”
The one-minute video shows several people in white shirts and hats crying behind a glass pane as they watch a coffin slowly being rolled inside a cremation furnace while melancholic music plays in the background.
A reverse image search revealed that the alleged video of Hsu’s funeral actually shows the cremation of a different person in another country.
The original video was published by TikTok user Quyên Phạm in December last year. The TikTok page has uploaded dozens of similar videos showing the different funerary practices observed in Vietnam.
Various media reports have stated Hsu was cremated in Tokyo before her ashes were brought back to Taiwan. She died of pneumonia last Feb. 2 after contracting the flu while on a holiday in Japan.
Another detail in the erroneous video that contradicted its claim was the television screen shown in the first few seconds, which flashed the name of the deceased person.
The viral video continued to circulate more than a week after Hsu’s death. On Instagram, it has garnered over 36,900 likes and 1.2 million views. Its counterpart video on Threads has received more than 12,400 online interactions.