Hollywood

Did movie star Clint Eastwood return all six of his Oscars and denounce Hollywood as "morally bankrupt?" No, that's not true: The account that made the claim is part of a network of self-described "parody, satire and tomfoolery" websites that completely make up stories. Eastwood has only won five Academy Awards and there are no reputable news outlets reporting that…

Did Sylvester Stallone withdraw from a movie project with Robert DeNiro, calling him "woke" and "creepy"? No, that's not true: The website that originally posted the article making the claim labels the story "Hollywood satire." Stallone's lawyer told Lead Stories the article is "a completely false and fabricated story." And there is no corroborating evidence that Stallone gave up a…

Did American actor Chris Evans sign a live bomb in 2016 in a photo op? No, that's not true: The object the "Captain America" actor signed was not an explosive device, but a replica, an inert training aid. The actor was at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey on a USO tour with several other entertainers on December 5, 2016. When…

Does a viral video show actor Harrison Ford advocating for Palestine? No, that's not true: A fragment of his speech was taken out of context. Ford was discussing the Amazon rainforest at a 2019 United Nations climate event, over four years before the Hamas-Israel war that began on October 7, 2023. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on…

Did Keanu Reeves reject a $1.7 billion "woke" movie offer after saying "woke mind virus should be destroyed," as a social media post claimed? No, that's not true: The claim was first published on a self-described satire website, and an analysis using a third-party tool determined that it was 99.9 percent likely to be an AI-generated story. The article was…

Did Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg and Sylvester Stallone all resign from the Screen Actors Guild to create a new "no-woke" union focused on traditional values? No, that's not true: Washington's representative told Lead Stories the claim is "not true." It appeared on a social media page that clearly identifies itself as an "entertainment website · satire/parody." The claim appeared in…

Did actors Jon Voight and Angelina Jolie "join forces for a non-woke production studio" named "Time for a Change"? No, that's not true: The claim was first published on a self-described satire website. The article was not even an original, manually crafted piece -- it was an AI-generated story. The claim originated from an article (archived here) on esspots.com published…

Did Hollywood director Mel Gibson and actor Mark Wahlberg "join hands to create a non-woke film production studio," as a post on Instagram claims? No, that's not true: The meme image and caption that make this claim were taken word for word from an article published by a self-described satirical website. None of the website's content is real, according to…

Did officers with the U.S. Marshals service closely shadow President Joe Biden at the State of the Union address on March 7, 2024, and would the presence of the U.S. Marshals demonstrate that Biden is not the real president or that the man is not the real Joe Biden? No, that's not true: The president of the United States is…

Did American actress Angelina Jolie in 2024 call on the world to "unite against Israel"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no evidence corroborating the claim. This phrase has been falsely attributed to Jolie since at least 2006, according to Lead Stories' research. That's 17 years before the current Hamas-Israel war began in 2023. The quote was not part…