Did Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' high school yearbook photo have a quote underneath that reads, "My Mount Rushmore is Jesus, Sir-Mixes-a-Lot, and Nintendo 64"? No, that's not true: The photo in a post making that claim is real, but "there is no quote within the yearbook photo beneath Governor DeSantis' photo," according to a representative from the county where DeSantis attended high school.
The claim appeared on Instagram on July 9, 2023, with the caption, "Italians were G-d's greatest mistake." The quote underneath DeSantis' photo reads:
My Mount Rushmore is Jesus, Sir-Mixes-a-Lot, and Nintendo 64.
Here is what the Instagram post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Wed Jul 12 14:16:35 2023 UTC)
"Sir-Mixes-a-Lot" is most likely an incorrect spelling of Sir-Mix-a-Lot, an American rapper, songwriter and record producer.
A reverse image search of the photo led Lead Stories to a Reddit thread where someone posted a picture of the yearbook photo while claiming they had gone to high school with DeSantis. Below is the Reddit screenshot:
(Source: Reddit screenshot taken on Wed Jul 12 15:07:45 2023 UTC)
The text used in the Instagram post and the one seen on Reddit are two different fonts. Also, there is not enough space for a quote underneath the photo found on Reddit. In the Reddit comments, other users talk about being "Falcons," possibly referring to the mascot of the school where the yearbook is from.
In 2016, DeSantis' verified Facebook account posted a photo captioned, "#TBT to playing baseball for Dunedin High School. Go Falcons!" Dunedin is part of the Pinellas County School District in Florida.
In a July 12, 2023, email, Sean Clark, director for strategic communications at Pinellas County, told Lead Stories:
This is a photo from the Dunedin High School yearbook; however, there is no quote within the yearbook photo beneath Governor DeSantis' photo nor any other student within the yearbook.
Other Lead Stories articles on DeSantis are here.
