Did another publication's fact check find that it was true that Whoopi Goldberg had been asked to leave Tina Turner's funeral? No, that's not true: A satire website published a fake story about Goldberg and then fact-checked their own fake story to say it was true. Both the satire website, dunning-kruger-times.com, and the fake fact checking website, freedomfictions.com, are part of the America's Last Line of Defense network of sites and carry satire disclaimers: "Everything on this website is fiction."
The original satirical story titled, "Whoopi Goldberg Asked Politely to Leave Tina Turner's Funeral: 'Tina Wasn't A Fan'" was published by dunning-kruger-times.com on May 27, 2023. It was followed by an article (archived here) published by freedomfictions.com on May 28, 2023, titled, "TRUE: Whoopi Goldberg Was Asked To Leave Tina Turner's Funeral." It opened:
The internet can't stop talking about a rumor about Whoopi Goldberg and an awkward moment at Tine Turner's funeral.
The claim states that Turner and Goldberg were once friends but had a falling out and that Whoopi showed up to make amends. Turner's family informed her that she was expressly listed as persona non grata by Turner herself. Goldberg left the venue as onlookers mocked her.
After careful consideration of the facts, allowing for the stellar reputation of the story's original author, we rate this claim true.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
TRUE: Whoopi Goldberg Was Asked To Leave Tina Turner's Funeral
Tina Turner, the singer known as the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll," died on May 24, 2023, at her home in Switzerland. At the time of writing, information about the funeral plan had not been made public. On May 26, 2023, the Toronto Sun reported that a spokesperson for Turner confirmed:
There will be a private funeral ceremony attended by close friends and family.
Lead Stories has a satire policy that explains some of the nuanced issues surrounding fact checking and satirical content. In this situation, both websites that presented the false narrative are clearly labeled.
However, the satirical fact checking article was reposted word for word on the website USA NEW'S on faithhopel.info (archived here) with no satire disclaimers nor information about who is running the site. The page transparency report for the Facebook page USA World, which only posts faithhopel.info content, says its managers are in the United States and Kosovo.
This is how the USA NEW'S article appeared posted on the Facebook page USA World at the time of writing:
(Image source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed May 31 17:16:21 2023 UTC)
The fictional story originated on freedomfictions.com, a satirical website with an about page (archived here) that has the following disclaimer:
About Us
Freedomfictions.com is a subsidiary of the 'America's Last Line of Defense' network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with 'comedy':
sat·ire ˈsaˌtī(ə)r noun: The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
It is run by self-described liberal troll Christopher Blair.
