Family says Rev. Jesse Jackson is stable and not on life support

Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., is in stable condition and breathing without machines, according to a statement from his family, which said inaccurate media reports have misrepresented the civil rights leader’s health.

The clarification was released on Sunday after multiple outlets, including CBS News and CNN, reported that Jackson, 84, was on “a form of life support” and receiving medication to stabilize his blood pressure at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Jackson’s family said he “remains under the care of physicians” as he manages progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurological disorder with which he was diagnosed in April. The statement said that he is not on life support.

CBS News had reported that Jackson was experiencing a decline in his condition, with brief moments of awareness, and that friends and relatives from across the country had traveled to Chicago to be at his side.

Jackson is one of the most prominent figures in American public life over the past five decades. A close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, he later founded the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, which focuses on social justice, voter participation, and economic equality.