Entertainment

Did President-elect Donald Trump announce during a podcast interview with Joe Rogan that Americans could "claim their $6,400 relief checks" as of November 25, 2024? No, that's not true: The post saying this used altered audio with a real video of a Trump interview on the Joe Rogan show. There was no mention of a "relief" check in the real,…

Does a video show Barack Obama "committing abhorrent acts while high" as a social media post imples? No, that's not true: The post does not offer any evidence that the former president was caught on camera getting high or "committing abhorrent acts." The video linked in the post does not show Obama doing drugs of any kind or doing anything…

Did singer-songwriter John Legend state on social media that he was leaving the United States for France as a result of the 2024 U.S. presidential election? No, that's not true: Searches of his social media did not return such a statement. A search on Google News did not show any reports that Legend had left the country because of the…

Did late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel say he was ending his show on January 20, 2025, and moving to Canada? No, that's not true: This comes from a website that labels itself satire. An online search turned up no evidence that Kimmel had ever said such a thing. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on November…

Did Taylor Swift announce she will move to Canada in response to the 2024 U.S. presidential election results, saying "Goodbye US, I Love Canada"? No, that's not true: The post supplied no evidence she made any such public statement. Independent searches found no credible news media outlets have reported this as of November 22, 2024. The claim was posted to…

Did Taylor Swift say Elon Musk is "the first person in history, to be radicalized by his own algorithm"? No, that's not true: A psychology professor at the University of Cambridge claimed credit for the quote after it went viral in mid-November 2024. Lead Stories found no obvious sign that the singer had made such a comment after searching Swift's…

Did Comcast announce in November 2024 that it was selling MSNBC? No, that's not true: According to the corporation's press release and other news reports, Comcast only announced moving some of its assets, including MSNBC, into a separate independent publicly traded entity. No credible media organization confirmed the rumor about the sale of MSNBC, with that rumor being elevated by…

Did actor Bruce Willis die in November 2024 amid dementia? No, that's not true: "It's a lie," Willis' attorney told Lead Stories. The social media post spreading that rumor offered no proof that Willis had passed away after his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis. There are no actual news stories that the "Die Hard" actor had passed away as of publication date.…

Did Billie Eilish turn down an Oscar nomination and announce she plans to leave the U.S. after Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election? No, that's not true: The rumor originated in an obscure blog that didn't cite a single source and didn't disclose its ownership. No credible journalistic organization reported such an event. The claim appeared in a…

Did Kyle Rittenhouse register a lien on Whoopi Goldberg's Malibu, California, home for $22 million? No, that's not true: This claim is from a self-described satire website. The article also uses two made-up names that commonly appear on this website. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) by The Dunning-Kruger Times on July 8, 2023. It began: When Kyle…

Did MSNBC host Rachel Maddow break down crying and run off the set due to the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election? No, that's not true: This post came from a self-described satirical Facebook account. The website attached to this account has a disclaimer that says, "Nothing on this page is real." The post appeared on Facebook on November…

Did a video show actors Brad Pitt and George Clooney "hit the Trump dance" to the song, "Y.M.C.A." by Village People? No, that's not true: "Y.M.C.A." was edited onto the video. The original audio has the two dancing to Sade's "Smooth Operator." Multiple reliable sources have reported that Pitt and Clooney were dancing to "Smooth Operator," and not "Y.M.C.A." The…

Did Arnold Schwarzenegger wear a T-shirt that said, "I didn't vote for the McFelon"? No, that's not true: The photo appearing to show that scene has been altered. The original photo showed Schwarzenegger wearing a plain black T-shirt without any slogan on it. The photo was taken in March 2024, at the 2024 Arnold Sports Festival UK, which was held…

Did Elon Musk sue TV show "The View" and co-host Whoopi Goldberg for $70 million because "They Lie About Me"? No, that's not true: This originated from SpaceX Fanclub, a Facebook page with a clear disclaimer that states, "We post SATIRE, nothing on this page is real." That has not prevented other pages from picking up the story and republishing…

Do various videos posted online show the funeral of former One Direction singer Liam Payne? No, that's not true: Payne's funeral hadn't happened when these videos were published in early and mid-November 2024. The footage presented as being taken at his funeral was recorded at other events. The claim appeared in a video post (archived here) on Facebook on November…

Did ABC issue an "official statement" that it would not renew the contracts of "The View" hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg because they are "too toxic"? No, that's not true: ABC told Lead Stories that this is false. There have been no credible reports that Behar or Goldberg's contracts would not be renewed as of November 15, 2024. The…

Does a video show actor Cillian Murphy waving a Palestinian flag on the street? No, that's not true: The person waving the flag in the video is Derek Brennan, who runs tours of locations of Murphy's Netflix show "Peaky Blinders" in Birmingham, England. The X account that posted the video later stated that the person in the video is Brennan,…

Did Prince Harry's son Archie die? No, that's not true: There has been no such announcement by the family or in the news media. The social media post implying this leads readers to an article that has nothing to do with Archie. The claim appeared in a post on Facebook (archived here) on November 12, 2024, with two photographs of…

Did Elon Musk permanently ban author Stephen King from X after King called Musk "the First Lady"? No, that's not true: King posted on his own X account that neither the "first lady" reference nor the ban happened. King added "Yet here I am." A Google News search did not find any news articles about Musk banning King's account. The…

Did a viral image of Taylor Swift capture her crying "on live television the moment the race was called for President Trump" in November 2024? No, that's not true: The picture was a screenshot of a Swift interview aired 12 years earlier. In it, Swift was reacting to questions about her personal life, not politics. The claim appeared in a…