What are they gonna do about Alex (little Buddy Hackett) in the ads for Shriners and St. Jude? (Are those places connected, for real? )
Anywhoo, Alex is getting older. I swear he’s gotta have grey hairs by now (I hope they got the guy some false teeth, at least).
Are they just gonna keep rehashing his old spots forever?
Alec still appears in the Shriners ads, though I think he’s in his 20s by this point. However, the ads I’ve seen for them lately primarily feature a younger boy, Kaleb.
(FWIW, Shriners and St. Jude are completely separate, though they both run those infomercial-style fundraising ads.)
He’ll be 21 soon if he isn’t already.
There’s also one with a miniature Mike Ditka with Alec nowhere to be seen.
Oh, I think he’s older than 21.
I saw one the other day where Alex was talking to Kaleb.
That sorta creeps me out. Altho’ Kaleb may be older than he looks.
I believe Alec died a few days ago.
Are you serious?
I’m gonna miss Lil 'Buddy Hackett.
Just Googled that. I don’t see anything but a report of misinformation that Kaleb the other kid had died. But Shiners say he’s alive.
So I’m assuming Alec is ok as well.
Beck - I think you’re right. I googled him to see how old he was now and I saw all these obituary notices for him. None of the sites were legitimate news sites.
Is there a reason you keep mocking his appearance by calling him this?
I think he’s cute. I’m not mocking.
At least I don’t think I am.
I’ll stop.
He’s more than that.
He’s adowwwrable.
mmm
This article from last week says Alec is 21 and has been featured in Shriners commercials for 10 years.
According to an official Shriners Facebook page, he’s 15 now. From 2014:
I’m bad at Math. Even simple stuff. But my addition puts Alec closer to 25. He’s a college graduate. If he started on time, which I bet he didn’t, it would put him 23.
He’s an adult. Should he be doing kiddy stuff on the commercials or maybe take a more adult role? I mean they need to lose his holding up a cute little blankie.
Now that you’ve mentioned it he does look like Buddy Hackett, 
nothing wrong with his looks, he’s no Fabio but he was a funny guy.
He’s on TV and ads. And seemingly has a job as sports commentary personality. I’m sure with his degree in broadcasting he’s fully aware what he looks like. I bet he doesn’t care what people say, at this point.
If he does, I’m sorry if I dissed him. I didn’t mean it as derogatory statement of his looks overall. I just thought it was silly.
His profile for Northwestern University indicates he hasn’t graduated yet.
I agree with you there: he needs to leave the blanket-hawking to the actual kids.
He hasn’t graduated yet because he was in a wheelchair accident in December where he broke his shoulder, hip, and knee. He’s been in hospital and rehab ever since.
I read he graduated in 2020. There’s a lot of conflicting info online. So I don’t know.
Either way he is an adult.