Did singer Kelly Clarkson and "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon promote weight-loss gummies in a 2024 televised interview, as a Facebook post claims? No, that's not true: Clarkson's publicist denied to Lead Stories that she has any connection with such gummies. A Google search showed there is no evidence that Fallon promoted any weight loss or gummy products. The claim uses a fake article, falsely attributed to CBS News Baltimore, and a doctored image.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on May 13, 2024. The caption read:
With the support of her good friend Jimmy fallon, the famous singer launched her 'zero-exercise pill' on the show, hoping that fans will use the right products and stop being scammed by other products.💊
The bottom of the post read, "100% OFF ENDS THIS WEEK," for the product it claimed Clarkson and Fallon are selling.
The post linked to an ad (archived here) that encourages viewers to buy "Pure Fuel Keto Gummies."
The bottom of the post contains a spelling error: "AMAZIN," instead of "AMAZIN'" OR "AMAZING" -- unlikely in an ad for an actual celebrity-endorsed product.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu May 16 23:49:09 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories determined that both the supposed CBS News Baltimore article the post links to and the image of Clarkson and Fallon are fake.
Melissa Kates, Clarkson's publicist, responded to an inquiry from Lead Stories in a May 16, 2024, email. Kates wrote:
Ms. Clarkson does not have any affiliation as a spokesperson for ANY weight loss products/programs.
Lead Stories also contacted representatives of Fallon's "Tonight Show" for a statement about the validity of the claim. This fact check will be updated if any responses are received.
Lead Stories did a search on Google News, using keywords from the claim, visible here, which found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the report.
Fake article
Clicking on the post on Facebook produced an article (archived here) that displayed an apparent CBS News Baltimore logo.
Published on May 15, 2024, the article was titled, "SHE HAS AMAZINGLY LOST 47 POUNDS! Something that changed my life in 2023."
The "Pure Fuel Keto Gummies" ad appeared several times throughout the article.
Lead Stories could find no record of this article on the actual CBS News Baltimore website. A search via Google, visible here (archived here), led only to the article and duplicate versions.
The article displays an image of Clarkson being interviewed by Hoda Kotb and Carson Daly of the "TODAY show," which is broadcast not by CBS, but by NBC. Rival TV networks do not publish promo pieces about each other's shows.
The article's image is a screenshot taken from a real June 22, 2023, TODAY interview in which Clarkson talked about her "Chemistry" album and her divorce. The interview, available on the TODAY show website (archived here), makes no mention of Clarkson or Fallon selling any weight- loss product.
The fake CBS News Baltimore article also displays a supposed script from that interview that makes it appear that Clarkson discussed her weight loss with the TODAY show. The script contains grammatical errors unlikely for a native English speaker -- notably, the lack of a definitive article before the word "gym."
A search (archived here) of the TODAY website, using keywords from the article, led to no results that substantiated the claim that Clarkson talked with the show about losing weight.
Fake image
The post's main image, which shows Clarkson and Fallon side by side and holding gummy products, was doctored. It combines different pictures to make the image seem like a credible photo taken by a professional photographer.
A Google Lens search (archived here) of the portion of the image that displays Clarkson was taken from a Yahoo!Finance reprint of a January 3, 2024, PEOPLE article titled, "Kelly Clarkson on Working Through Depression, 'Extraordinarily Hard' Divorce: I'm Taking My Power Back' (Exclusive)." In the PEOPLE photo, Clarkson wears the same dress, hairstyle and makeup that she does in the image posted on Facebook, but facing to the left. 
(Source: Yahoo!Finance screenshot taken on Fri May 17 18:06:09 2024 UTC)
A Google Lens search (archived here) for the portion of the image that displays Fallon resulted in a March 1, 2017, TODAY YouTube video titled, "Jimmy Fallon: My New Universal Studios Ride Is 'Insane' | TODAY." In the video, Fallon is seen wearing a similar outfit and has the same hairstyle as in the image posted on Facebook.
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Fri May 17 18:12:09 2024 UTC)
Find out more
Lead Stories began reported on fake websites using fake celebrity interviews to promote weight loss products around October 11, 2022.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks mentioning "weight loss gummy" promotions can be found here.
