Did Elon Musk sue TV show "The View" and co-host Whoopi Goldberg for $70 million because "They Lie About Me"? No, that's not true: This originated from SpaceX Fanclub, a Facebook page with a clear disclaimer that states, "We post SATIRE, nothing on this page is real." That has not prevented other pages from picking up the story and republishing it without the satire disclaimer.
The claim has been recycled several times by the Facebook page SpaceX Fanclub, recently in a post (archived here) on November 3, 2024. The post was captioned:
Elon Musk Sues The View And Whoopi Goldberg For $70 Million, 'They Lie About Me' - SATIRE POST
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Nov 18 15:13:18 2024 UTC)
The meme has a "Rated Satire" watermark in the top left corner and the first comment under the post contains a link to the full article (archived here) on the website esspots.com. At the bottom of the article it says "NOTE: This is SATIRE, It's Not True." The website's "About Us" page also has a clear disclaimer:
Welcome to the US page of Esspots (A Subsidiary of SpaceXMania.com specializing in Satire and Parody News), your one-stop destination for satirical news and commentary about the United States of America. Our team of writers and editors is dedicated to bringing you the latest and greatest in fake news and absurdity, all with a healthy dose of humor and satire.
Lead Stories has a Satire Policy published that explains when we fact check satire and when we don't:
What do we consider not to be satire?
Sometimes articles from humor or satire publications are copied by other sites and presented as real. In such cases we will label the copies as 'False'.
Since SpaceX Fanclub made the post, several other pages have copied its wording but used different pairings of photos of Musk and Goldberg -- without any added satire watermark or disclaimer. On November 8, 2024, the Facebook page Mystic Muses (pictured below right) made a post with a shortened link to an article on the website topcelebnews.us (archived here) with the caption:
Elon Musk Sues Whoopi Goldberg and 'The View' for $70 Million Over Alleged Lies
READ MORE: buff.ly/40Ewnuf
On November 13, 2024, the page Amanda Larusi (pictured below left) made a post on Facebook (archived here). The first comment on the post had a link to a copy of the article (archived here) on the website thefactsusa.com.
(Source: Lead Stories composite image made with Facebook screenshots taken on Mon Nov 18 16:36:33 2024 UTC)
There is no evidence of a lawsuit between Musk and "The View" or Goldberg, as an advanced Google search shows (archived here). Facebook search results show variations of this headline (pictured below), with the lawsuit amount named in the headline ranging from $60 million to $70 million (archived here) or $80 million, all the way to a billion dollars (archived here).
Evidence of the variable numbers can also be seen in some of the articles published on websites. They cite one figure in the headline and a different amount in the body of the article. On the esspots.com satire website, the URL says 80 million, the headline says $70 million and the article says $60 million.
(Source: Lead Stories composite image with Facebook screenshots taken on Mon Nov 18 18:47:23 2024 UTC)
Other fact check agencies have also reviewed this claim in the past year, including Snopes and PolitiFact.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims about Elon Musk or Whoopi Goldberg can be found here and here.
