Fact Check: List Of Speakers For The 2020 GOP Convention -- Including 'MyPillow Guy' and 'Demon Sperm Doctor' -- Is NOT Official

Fact Check

  • by: Dana Ford
Fact Check: List Of Speakers For The 2020 GOP Convention -- Including 'MyPillow Guy' and 'Demon Sperm Doctor' -- Is NOT Official Lineup TBD

Are the "MAGA hat kid from Covington Catholic," the "MyPillow guy," the "demon sperm doctor," musician Kid Rock, actor Scott Baio and the "racist gun couple" all featured speakers at the 2020 Republican National Convention? No, that's not true: The final lineup has not been announced. However, some of the people in that list are expected to speak, and others participated in the 2016 GOP convention.

The claim appeared as a meme (archived here) on Facebook on August 19, 2020. It included six photos with nickhames for most people, and opened:

In case anyone needs a laugh, here are the RNC's featured speakers:

This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:

Facebook screenshot

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Aug 20 13:24:32 2020 UTC)

In the order that they appear in the meme, the purported speakers' real identities are: Nick Sandmann, Mike Lindell, Stella Immanuel, Kid Rock, Scott Baio and Patricia and Mark McCloskey. They fall into different categories.

Some -- in fact -- are expected to address the GOP convention. This category includes Sandmann, the high school student whose interaction with a Native American man during a protest in 2019 went viral, and the McCloskey couple from St. Louis, who brandished guns at protesters this summer.

Others in the meme are likely represented because they participated in the 2016 Republican National Convention. This category includes Kid Rock and "Happy Days" actor Baio. Neither has been confirmed for the 2020 convention.

Similarly, Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, has not been confirmed. It's not outside the realm of possibility, however, that he could be. Lindell is a big supporter of President Donald Trump. The two reportedly attended a meeting together in July to discuss an unproven therapeutic for coronavirus. Also, Lindell is scheduled to speak at a GOP fundraiser in Des Moines, Iowa, in September.

The purported speaker who's probably the least likely to address the 2020 convention is Immanuel. She captured national attention this summer with an appearance at a press conference with a group called America's Frontline Doctors. (Lead Stories' coverage of that controversial presser can be seen here.) Although Trump retweeted the conference, Immanuel's background and beliefs, which reportedly include alien DNA and demon sperm, have been widely questioned.

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  Dana Ford

Dana Ford is an Atlanta-based reporter and editor. She previously worked as a senior editor at Atlanta Magazine Custom Media and as a writer/ editor for CNN Digital. Ford has more than a decade of news experience, including several years spent working in Latin America.

Read more about or contact Dana Ford

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