Former California Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Jr., is not dead.

On the June 28 broadcast of the 2020 BET Awards, the network included Brown’s image and name in a video montage of famous African Americans who have died within the last year.

“I can confirm that Mayor Willie Brown is very much alive and not deceased,” said Amelia Ashley-Ward, publisher of the Sun-Reporter, San Francisco’s longest running African American newspaper and a California Black Media partner.

After that, San Franciscans elected Brown mayor in 1995.

Its more than likely that BET intended to honor one of Brown’s namesakes, another famous African American with California ties: Pro-Football Hall of Famer Willie Ferdie Brown.