‘The Fantasticks’ Writer Dies from Cancer, YouTube Removes False Cancer Claims and More

Tom Jones died from cancer.

Tom Jones, more commonly known as writing the book and lyrics for musical “The Fantasticks,” died from cancer this past Friday, at his home in Sharon, Connecticut, according to a statement his son, Michael, told “The New York Times.” He was 95 years old.

Jones, born in Littlefield, Texas, went to college at the University of Texas at Austin, where he met Harvey Schmidt. With Schmidt as a composer and Jonas as a lyricist and writer, they together created the musical, “The Fantasticks,” which ran off-Broadway in Greenwich Village for 42 years, according to “Variety.”

Jones and Schmidt are also known for “I Do! I Do!” and “110 in the Shade,” which both received Tony nominations in 1961. “The Fantasticks” later made its debut on national television in 1964.

Jones is survived by his two sons, Michael and Sam.

Eric Braeden announced that he is cancer-free after bladder cancer diagnosis.

Eric Braeden, commonly known for his role in “The Young & The Restless,” revealed that he is cancer-free after receiving a bladder cancer diagnosis four months ago.

“The reason I want to talk to you tonight is I want to tell you I’m grateful (for) all of your good thoughts and your prayers. It’s meant a great deal to me, and I can tell you it obviously has helped, because I had my last cystoscopy two days ago — that’s when they thread a camera into your bladder — and I’m cancer-free. They couldn’t find a damn thing. Isn’t that nice,” Braeden said in a video Sunday on Facebook live.

Braeden said that his treatment is still not completed. Once doctors removed the malignant tumor, they had realized that it contained high-grade cancer cells. Now, Braeden has three prophylactic infusions coming up that has “some stuff that apparently kills the cancer,” Braeden explained. The actor is also awaiting MRI results to detect if the cancer has spread.

“And then I should be free for a while. Every so often, every few months, I’ll have another cystoscopy, all to find the damn thing early and to fight it. To hell with it,” Braeden said.

YouTube revealed the removal of false cancer claims in accordance with their medical misinformation policy.

YouTube announced that it will begin to get rid of false cancer claims due to its medical misinformation policy. Any “content that promotes cancer treatments proven to be harmful or ineffective, or content that discourages viewers from seeking professional medical treatment” is now prohibited from the social media platform, Dr. Garth Graham and Matt Halprin, director and global head of Healthcare and Public Health Partnerships and VP of Global Head of Trust and Safety and YouTube, respectively, wrote in a blog post.

“This includes content that promotes unproven treatments in place of approved care or as a guaranteed cure, and treatments that have been specifically deemed harmful by health authorities,” the post explained.

Not only has YouTube focused on false cancer claims, but the website also removed false claims of vaccines, abortions and eating disorders. YouTube plans to consider content that will be uploaded to their site based on three categories: prevention, treatment and denial, according to CNN.

“To determine if a condition, treatment or substance is in scope of our medical misinformation policies, we’ll evaluate whether it’s associated with a high public health risk, publicly available guidance from health authorities around the world, and whether it’s generally prone to misinformation,” Graham and Halprin said, but also added that any information going against “local health authorities or the World Health Organization” will be removed as well, according to CNN.

This will go into effect starting Tuesday.

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