Did actress Sandra Bullock say that "Donald Trump is doing everything to improve our nation" and urge his critics, including former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, to leave the country? No, that's not true: Bullock never made these comments, which have been shared and recirculated countless times since the fall of 2017 as if they are from a new interview.
The story resurfaced from an article published by newnews40.pro on January 22, 2020, titled "ACTRESS SANDRA BULLOCK: 'DONALD TRUMP IS DOING EVERYTHING TO IMPROVE OUR NATION, IF YOU DON'T LIKE HIM JUST...'" (archived here). It opened:
Sandra Bullock expressed that she isn't "politically vocal" yet rather that doesn't mean she isn't obstinate with...
"I just need what's best for our country," Bullock said in the midst of an inquiry and answer session for her new film, Our Brand Is Crisis, in Los Angeles last Friday. Also, the best part was the point at which she expressed this:
"On the off chance that you don't care for our present President, you can leave our nation and never returned, particularly you Hillary."
Users on social media only saw this:
ACTRESS SANDRA BULLOCK: 'DONALD TRUMP IS DOING EVERYTHING TO IMPROVE OUR NATION, IF YOU DON'T LIKE HIM JUST...' - New News 40
The article appears to have surfaced for the first time on October 26, 2017. Two stories (archived here and here) published on that date have similar phrasing, with only a few words changed with synonyms.
Many of the quotations were lifted from an October 17, 2015, People magazine interview in which the actress shared her political views. The very first sentence of the People article has been copied and reshared on all the other sites. In that article, she made it clear she was not supporting Donald Trump:
One politician who seemingly won't get the star's vote in the 2016 presidential election? Donald Trump.
"I don't agree with that at all," Bullock said of the candidate's comments on Mexican-Americans. "That was not a statement that I can get behind. I don't agree with that statement."
Bullock never mentioned Hillary Clinton in the article, and the quote attributed to her was fabricated. Snopes and FactCheck.org have debunked the claims, which continue to make the rounds online.
Very often, new websites plagiarize the articles or make only slight adjustments to the copy. Even the latest version, published last week, still contained the same phrase that Bullock made the comments "during a press conference for her new film, 'Our Brand Is Crisis,' in Los Angeles on Friday."
That film was released in the United States on October 30, 2015, according to IMDb, so it is unlikely she would have been doing press interviews about it more than four years later.
NewsGuard, a company that uses trained journalists to rank the reliability of websites, describes newnews40.pro as:
A site in a large network of hoax websites that plagiarize content from satire sites without disclosing that the stories are made up.
According to NewsGuard, the site does not maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability. Read their full assessment here.
