Alex Dougherty Artfully Denies Rumors of His Death

The Dougherty Dozen is a family of 11 children based in Upstate New York, where mom Alicia posts vlogs about managing her household of nearly a dozen children. The family is made up of fostered and adopted children, contributing to its large size.

Alex Dougherty, the oldest of the bunch, has a platform of his own on TikTok, where he posts videos lip-syncing and dancing to various viral sounds. He also contributes to his mother's channel by appearing in her vlogs. Rumors have begun circulating that the oldest child has passed, leading to many well-wishes and condolences shared online. What happened to Alex?

Seemingly overnight, the internet became convinced that Alex had passed away, despite there being no official obituary or comment from the family about Alex's well being. All over Alex and the family's TikTok pages, commenters began sending their well-wishes to the family, mourning the death of the oldest child.

But in what's probably one of the funniest responses to rumors about his death, Alex actually took it upon himself to clear up the facts.

Using a comment that read "Fly high Alex," with a dove emoji, Alex and his girlfriend made a TikTok together, dancing and smiling in the car. "GUESS WHOS D3AD..." Alex wrote in the caption. "I'm joking I'm not dead. Rumors are lies just remember that."

So despite the internet running rampant with claims that the content creator was no longer with us, it seems that's very much not the case. Alex is alive and well and in good enough spirits to joke about his fake passing.

Because the internet is unable to take most things seriously, though, the comments are filled with people joking these are videos pulled from his drafts to make it seem like it's not actually dead.

"It's like he's still here," one commented with a sad face emoji, while another wrote, "[They're] posting old drafts of him. It's so sad to watch. R.I.P Alex Dougherty."

"Can't believe [they] are posting old drafts of him now," another user commented on the post. "rip Alex you lived such a great life."

Alex himself commented on that remark, saying "I'm still alive brother." Though the internet is clearly ready to continue to the joke, Alex seems determined to set the record straight that he is alive and well.

It's not entirely clear how this rumor of Alex's passing began, but the family seems to have decided not to address it directly, beyond Alex's joking TikTok dispelling the rumors. Even as the claims that Alex had passed began to circulate, he still made appearances in vlogs on the Dougherty Dozen channel.

It's important to always be critical of rumors heard online, and in instances of a creator's death, if the family hasn't personally made a statement about a member's passing, it's likely false.