Entertainment

Did Jimmy Kimmel kick Clint Eastwood off his show in April 2025? No, that's not true: Searches across the website of ABC, which airs the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, demonstrated that Eastwood was not a guest between January 1, and April 18, 2025. Posts about the purported controversy used what appeared to be AI-generated narration and offered no footage of…

Did a photograph show a fake hand on board the crew capsule after an April 14, 2025, Blue Origin space flight, suggesting the whole endeavor was a hoax? No, that's not true: The photograph did show the hand of a mannequin, but it was taken after a December 2017 test flight, not the crewed mission in 2025. The picture, placed…

Did a widely shared image accurately depict the all-female crew of a Blue Origin spaceflight, with one post describing it as "one giant leap for Botox"? No, that's not true: The image was digitally edited. The original picture was taken by Justin Hamel for the New York Times and showed Katy Perry, Gayle King, Aisha Bowe, Kerianne Flynn, Lauren Sánchez…

Did a video authentically show someone proving Starbucks is running a "Coffee Scam" by showing all cup sizes contain an equal amount of coffee? No, that's not true: The video was published by an account that says it publishes "magic, pranks and games". In a later video the account claims to "explain" the trick by repeating it with coffee being…

Did tech billionaire Elon Musk "step in" to take care of an infant left behind by its parents? No, that's not true: The viral rumor originated from AI generated images coupled with AI generated text. As of April 15, 2025, no credible media outlet reported the purported event. The claim reappeared a post (archived here) published on Facebook on April…

Did Rick Harrison from the TV show "Pawn Stars" receive a sentence of life imprisonment in March 2025? No, that's not true: Videos claiming that the Las Vegas reality TV star had been convicted of "trafficking looted artifacts" were no more than fantasy fiction. Harrison appeared on his podcast, and posted on social media, several times after his supposed incarceration.…

Do viral posts tell a real-life story about Elon Musk meeting Keanu Reeves in a heated televised exchange in 2025? No, that's not true: No credible media outlet reported such a debate, as of April 9, 2025. Many of the social media posts about the supposed confrontation resorted to the apparent use of generative AI to make images that barely…

Did the rapper Eminem announce in April 2025 that he would hold a concert in Israel in June? No, that's not true: A poster shared widely on social media billed the show as the star's "first time in Israel" and gave a date of June 1, 2025. However, no such announcement could be found on Eminem's official website or social…

Does a viral video show singer R. Kelly walking out of prison after being pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2025? No, that's not true: The scene predated the singer's conviction in the 2022 criminal trial. As of this writing, R. Kelly is still on the list of currently incarcerated people on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. The…

Does video of a syringe with a retracting needle prove that "the elites" faked receiving vaccinations? No, that's not true: It is generic footage demonstrating the use of a prop syringe for use on stage or during filming. It did not document any high-profile individual using the dummy syringe to avoid vaccination. Entries on social media sharing the video in…

Did wrestler Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, threaten to "punch" Elon Musk on X in March 2025, if the tech billionaire "doesn't leave America alone"? No, that's not true: A review of Johnson's posts doesn't confirm he ever published what was attributed to him. The claim originated from an obscure clickbait website whose disclaimer said that it "assumes…

Did commentator Ben Shapiro criticize the work of American painter Georgia O'Keeffe for "not looking like anything"? No, that's not true: quotations attributed to Shapiro actually originated in a 2021 article by the self-described satire website The Hard Times, and were re-shared again in March 2025. Similarly, Shapiro never posted a video to YouTube with the title "Ben Shapiro DESTROYS…

Did basketball star Caitlin Clark reject a "$15 Million Offer" from Elon Musk? No, that's not true: Musk did not make the public statement the story said he did. It also contained several phrases from almost identical false stories about Dawn Staley and Patrick Mahomes that went viral earlier this month. Viral claims on social media were often accompanied by…

Did Laila Ali lose her life while giving birth in a Canadian hospital in March 2025? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the 47-year-old former world boxing champ and daughter of boxing great Muhammad Ali was pregnant in March 2025 or that she died while birthing a child. Ali posted a video on March 30, 2025, to…

Did Fox News report singer Arnel Pineda had been sentenced to life imprisonment? No, that's not true: The viral video with a misspelled title claiming the lead vocalist of Journey was sentenced to "life inprisonment" was never broadcast by Fox News. No other media have reported on the alleged news either. A viral video (archived here) published on March 25,…

Has actor Will Smith died as of March 25, 2025? No, that's not true: Smith appeared alive in Philadelphia to celebrate the naming of a street in his childhood neighborhood "Will Smith Way" on March 26, 2025. A social media post on a Facebook group page created just a day earlier included a photo from an unrelated 2022 car crash…

Did actor Richard Gere leave the United States after Donald Trump became president and did he vow "never to return"? No, that's not true: The actor announced the move as far back as April 2024 when Joe Biden was still President and the national conventions still had to happen. The stated reason for the move was that Gere's wife is…

Did Karoline Leavitt, Barron Trump, Patrick Mahomes, Dawn Staley, Connor McDavid and many others all surprise a high school janitor with an SUV for his long years of service? No, that's not true: Several clickbait sites use pictures of unrelated janitors and names of famous people to trick people into liking and sharing a story with fake details. Many of…

Was Elon Musk reported in March 2025 to be in talks to buy the Cincinnati Bengals for $15 billion and had reports "surfaced" that Bengals President Mike Brown was considering the offer? No, that's not true: The content of the article making such claims was found to be made up by ai and provided no links, citations or witnesses corroborating…

Did Beyoncé publicly confirm she will move to Italy because she can't "breathe the same air as Elon Musk"? No, that's not true: An AI generated viral article reused a fake quote previously attributed to Oprah Winfrey in another false story. Neither credible media outlets nor the singer's official pages discussed the purported relocation as of March 26, 2025. The…