Did the country music singer George Strait donate $3.5 million to help recovery efforts after devastating flooding in parts of Texas, in July 2025? No, that's not true: We found no corroboration for a blog post that was shared widely and also claimed Strait joined a volunteer crew in aid efforts. A statement attributed to Strait was completely fabricated, and his publicist told Lead Stories the rumor was "fake news".
The story appeared in a July 6, 2025, blog post (archived here) with the headline "George Strait Steps Up Amid Texas Flood Tragedy -- and His Next Move Leaves Fans in Awe". The story began:
Austin, TX -- As Texas reeled from one of the deadliest flood disasters in its history -- leaving at least 51 people dead, including 15 children, and causing catastrophic damage to homes and communities -- a familiar name quietly stepped forward to offer hope.
In the wake of the tragedy, country music legend George Strait, long known for his humility and guarded personal life, made a rare public gesture of solidarity. The King of Country donated a staggering $3.5 million to aid flood victims and help families still searching for loved ones swept away in the torrents....
George Strait's team confirmed on Friday that the singer personally pledged $3.5 million to support immediate relief efforts, including search and rescue operations, temporary housing, food programs, and counseling services for grieving families.
Strait, who owns property in the Texas Hill Country and has always maintained a close connection to his home state, released a brief statement through his publicist:
"Texas is my home. These are my people. When they hurt, I hurt. Whatever I can do to help ease the burden -- that's what I'll do. My prayers are with everyone affected."
That story was false, and was re-shared along with a viral July 6 Facebook post (archived).
A search of Google News (archived here) and Yahoo! News (archived here) for the words "George Strait" and "flood" yielded no relevant results, meaning we found no even inadvertent corroboration for the claims that Strait had announced a $3.5 million donation, and had appeared in person to help recovery efforts in an unspecified town.
Furthermore, the statement attributed to Strait in the blog post was fabricated. A Google search (archived here) for fragments from the statement yielded no results whatsoever, and we found no trace of any such statement on Strait's official website, or on his Facebook, Instagram and X accounts.
The claim that the hashtag #GeorgeStraitForTexas began trending before the publication of the blog post was also demonstrably false. On X, we found only one instance of the hashtag, and that came with a link to the fake blog post in question. On Facebook, we found also found only one instance of that hashtag, and it was published after the blog post, not before.
In an email sent to Lead Stories, a publicist for Strait called the whole story "fake news".
