Fact Check: No "Televised Earthquake" -- Donald Trump Did NOT Dismiss Lifetime Achievements Of Dick Van Dyke Saying "He's Just A Dancer." -- Copy-Paste Clickbait

Clickbait Hype

Did Donald Trump (or another famous person) dismiss the achievements of Dick Van Dyke (or some other celebrity) by saying, "He's just a dancer." (or some other talent)? No, that's not true: This story about a broadcast studio turning into a "televised earthquake" is nothing but a formulaic structure to pair the names and pictures of some famous people for social media clicks. A network of Facebook fan pages, originating in Vietnam but dedicated to American celebrities, is host to custom crafted copy-paste versions of the same fake story. The posts link to off-platform revenue-generating websites. The story is not based on something that really happened.

One example of the story appears in a post (archived here) where it was published by the Facebook page Ghanshyam yadav on Oct. 21, 2025. The caption includes a link to hollywoodbuzzdaily.space:

"HE'S JUST A DANCER."
That's what Donald Trump said -- seconds before the studio turned into a televised earthquake, and Dick Van Dyke answered with a single line that left him frozen on live TV.
WATCH MORE: https://www.hollywoodbuzzdaily.space/hes-just-a-dancer...
At first, Van Dyke said nothing.
He tilted his head. Took a breath. Waited.

This is the image posted on Facebook:

(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from facebook.com/share/p/1D33c4N9dv.)

The caption goes on at length, drawing out the reader's anticipation to learn what Van Dyke said in response -- but the answer is not in the caption. For that the reader will have to visit the website.

But when Trump kept going... everything shifted.

Dick looked up. Rested his hands on the table.

And delivered seven words -- no more, no less.

The cameras kept rolling. But the director didn't dare whisper "continue."

Someone backstage exhaled. The guests stared at the floor.

Trump? Not a sound. Just one blink. And then... silence.

The man dismissed as "just another dancer from Hollywood" had just done something no one else had managed in a decade of live television:

He froze the entire studio.

Not out of anger.

Not out of arrogance.

But because everyone suddenly realized -- they had misjudged him.

The clip is spreading by the hour -- not because Dick Van Dyke shouted, but because his words cut clean through a cultural illusion that's been carefully staged for years.

So what exactly were those seven words?

And why are people calling this the moment Donald Trump was left speechless -- live on air?

The first comment under the post has a link to hollywoodbuzzdaily.space, but clicking this link will redirect to another ad-heavy website, americanews365.azontree.com (archived here). The page transparency report for Ghanshyam yadav says the page is managed by three people in Vietnam (pictured below). This alone does not mean the story is fake. But, in recent weeks Lead Stories has debunked many other fake stories originating from Facebook pages managed overseas. They link to low quality fly-by-night websites which could be characterized as "made-for-advertising" or MFA sites.

(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069327250158&sk=about_profile_transparency.)

A search on Facebook for the phrase "seconds before the studio turned into a televised earthquake" produced many results (archived here). The GIF pictured below shows some of the search results, with famous faces used to grab engagement from the disingenuous fan pages where the false posts are planted.

(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot GIF from facebook.com/search.)

Some of the celebrities paired together in this production line copy-paste formula are:

Donald Trump and Dick Van Dyke or: Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Kid Rock, Kane Brown, Derek Hough, Elon Musk, or Adam Sandler

Joy Behar and Joan Baez or: Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Patti LaBelle, or Brandon Lake

Karoline Leavitt and Elon Musk or: Neil Diamond, Eric Clapton, Tom Jones, or Patti LaBelle

Whoopi Goldberg and Caitlin Clark or: Sophie Cunningham, Lamar Jackson, Ryan Williams, Kalen DeBoer, Stjepan Hauser, Mike Norvell, Jose Altuve, Bill Elliott, Jamal Roberts, Willie Nelson, Jelly Roll, Yungblud, Guy Penrod, John Foster, George Strait, Steven Tyler, Jasmine Crockett, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks, Paul McCartney, Reba McEntire, Luke Bryan, Kelly Clarkson, Phil Collins, or Bindi Irwin.