Steve Burns is alive and well, thank you very much.
the former Blue’s Clues host has been fielding rumors of his untimely demise left, right and center Since his 2002 departure from the children’s series, and now he’s finally addressed the toll of the plethora of death hoaxes he’s unwittingly become the target of.
“Everyone thought I was dead for a while,” the 50-year-old Daytime Emmy nominee told the New York Times. “That hurts, to be honest.”
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“It kind of messed me up because that was happening while the internet was just sort of beginning to internet,” Burns continued in the interview, which was published overnight.
“No one, including myself, was kind of prepared for the degree of consensus that it represented.”
Despite the fact Burns has made the occasional public appearance over the years, people still believed he had died from several apparent tragedies due to the persistent rumours.
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“When a zillion, trillion people all think you’re dead for 15 years, it freaks you out,” he said.
The death hoaxes were partly why Burns chose to return to the public eye with social media, despite the fact that he likes living mostly off the grid in upstate New York.
In 2021, Burns appeared in a video shared to Nick Jr.’s in his famous green-striped rugby shirt, addressing his now-adult fans and explaining his departure from Blue’s Clues,
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“Remember when one day, I was like, ‘Oh hey, guess what? Big news, I’m leaving’ … and we didn’t see each other for a really long time? Can we just talk about that?” he said in the video.
He acknowledged his departure was “kind of abrupt”, leaving his ‘brother’ Joe (Donovan Patton) to helm the program so he could go off to college.
Burns did say, however, that he has no regrets as he’s come so faras have the millions of children who watched him back in the day.
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“Look at you, and look at all you have done and all you have accomplished in all that time. It’s just so amazing, right? I mean we started out with clues, and now it’s what? Student loans, and jobs, and families ” Burns said in the video.
“I guess I just wanted to say that after all these years, I never forgot you … ever. And I’m super glad we’re still friends.”
Reflecting on the video three years later, Burns said he didn’t write a script for it, he just said what was on his mind while standing in front of the camera.
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“I wanted to continue the conversation that I started a zillion years ago with everyone,” Burns told the publication.
He now posts videos of him sitting and “listening” to his viewers on TikTok, letting them have the floor to explain what’s going on in their lives like he did with Blue’s Clues,
It’s fostered a community online where Burns’ other viewers comment positive messages of support when one follower shares something so grim they may not feel comfortable sharing in real life.
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“I think that’s really beautiful,” Burns said.
“It’s happening just because some middle-aged bald dude in glasses is paying attention.
“I’m not doing anything that everyone else can’t do.”
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