Did Kyle Rittenhouse register a lien on Whoopi Goldberg's Malibu, California, home for $22 million? No, that's not true: This claim is from a self-described satire website. The article also uses two made-up names that commonly appear on this website.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) by The Dunning-Kruger Times on July 8, 2023. It began:
When Kyle Rittenhouse settled his case against Whoopi Goldberg, she agreed to two things: $22 million is [sic] cash and a public apology.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Dunning-Kruger Times screenshot taken on Fri Nov 22 14:41:55 2024 UTC)
The article does not provide any evidence that would back up what it reports. A lien is "the legal claim of one person upon the property of another person to secure the payment of a debt or the satisfaction of an obligation," according to dictionary.com.
As of November 22, 2024, a search through Google News did not confirm the claim (archived here). Instead it produced fact checks from reputable media outlets debunking a series of claims involving Rittenhouse and Goldberg.
"Joe Barron" and "Skip Tetheludah" are mentioned in the article, Barron as Rittenhouse's lawyer and Tetheludah as a correspondent for the media outlet. We did not find any evidence that a "Joe Barron" litigated for Rittenhouse (archived here), nor did we find evidence that "Skip Tetheludah" was a real journalist (archived here). Joe Barron and Skip Tetheludah are names frequently used in website founder Christopher Blair's stories.
The website's "About Us" page has a disclaimer (archived here) that says, in part:
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.
Lead Stories has a Satire Policy 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'.
The Dunning-Kruger Times
The Dunning-Kruger Times is a satirical website with an about page (archived here) that has following disclaimer:
About Us
Dunning-Kruger-Times.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.
The website is named after the Dunning-Kruger effect, a term from a psychology experiment that describes the phenomenon of being ignorant of one's own ignorance. (That experiment has been disputed by a math professor.)
It is run by Blair, a self-described liberal troll.
We have reached out to Rittenhouse and Goldberg and will update this article when a relevant response is received.
At the time of writing, Reuters had reviewed this claim.
Lead Stories has previously debunked claims of a Rittenhouse lawsuit against Goldberg here and here. More Lead Stories fact checks of claims surrounding Kyle Rittenhouse are here. Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims surrounding Whoopi Goldberg are here.
