Did Barbra Streisand just announce a massive donation while accepting a "Lifetime Achievement Award" at a Los Angeles gala in front of various tech titans, billionaires and powerful people? No, that's not true: The exact same story, often accompanied by an image or a mention of Mark Zuckerberg, has been posted about dozens of celebrities by a network of sites and Facebook pages run by people in Vietnam. There were no recent news reports about any "Lifetime Achievement Award" received by Streisand.
The viral story appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on a page named "Hayfield Serenade" where it was published on December 20, 2025. It read:
BREAKING NEWS: Barbra Streisand, a music legend, makes even the richest and most powerful people in the world astonished with a strong message -- and she not only speaks, but takes immediate action.
At a glamorous red carpet gala in Los Angeles today, December 20, with the attendance of film tycoons, tech billionaires, and top-tier celebrities from the most prestigious movies, Barbra Streisand stepped onto the stage to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. But instead of a typical acceptance speech, the veteran artist chose to speak directly, with intensity and conviction.
Without thanking the Hollywood Academy or recalling Broadway memories or famous albums, Streisand looked straight at the audience of the rich and powerful and said:
"We sit here amid diamonds, artistic memories, while the world outside is breaking apart. If your voice can move millions without using it to help those without a voice, then you are creating noise..."
The room fell silent; the eyes of film executives and invited guests seemed frozen in place before the power and weight of her words. She emphasized:
"If you have more than what you need, it's not yours to keep; your duty is to pull up those still beneath you."
And Streisand didn't stop there. On the night of December 20, she announced that all profits from her archived albums and upcoming sales -- estimated at 160 million USD -- will be used to fund research on women's health, climate activism, and arts education for disadvantaged children.
Her message was clear and strong: "Heritage cannot be built on what you earn. It is built on what you give." While many chase fame and fortune, Barbra Streisand reminded the world that true impact is not created with applause but by easing suffering.
In an era where celebrities are often seen as "fallen idols," today Streisand has given a new lesson that touched the world's ears.
This is what the image in the post looked like on Facebook :
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Dec 23 09:41:03 2025 UTC)
On Decemer 10, 2025 an almost identical story (archived here) but featuring singer Brandon Lake went viral on Facebook too. That story opened:
BREAKING NEWS: Worship artist Brandon Lake just delivered a message so bold it left some of the world's wealthiest and most influential powerbrokers absolutely speechless -- and then he proved every word with action.
At a high-end black-tie gala in Manhattan -- a room buzzing with billionaires, overflowing champagne, and egos polished brighter than the chandeliers -- Lake stepped onstage to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award. Everyone expected the typical grateful, polished speech.
They did not get that.
Lake skipped the sponsor shout-outs. He skipped the industry politics. He skipped the safe, rehearsed gratitude.
Instead, staring straight into a room of the ultra-rich -- including Mark Zuckerberg and several Wall Street titans -- he said:
"If God has blessed you with wealth, then use it to bless others.
No one should build palaces while children sleep without homes.
If you have more than you need, what you're holding isn't abundance -- it's someone else's answer to prayer."
The image that went with that article looked like this:
(Image source: Allen Baily Facebook post.)
The Facebook page "Hayfield Serenade" which was used to promote the story had a page transparency tab (archived here) indicating it was run byseveral people from Vietnam:
(Image source: screenshot of the page transparency tab of the "Hayfield Serenade" page on Facebook.)
The Vietnam connection is significant, since fact-checkers, including Lead Stories, have identified a major source of AI-generated false stories coming from a single operation based in that Southeast Asian country. You can see recent reporting and fact checks mentioning that country here.
A Google News search for news articles mentioning "Lifetime Achievement Award" and "Zuckerberg" did not return any recent news stories mentioning such a gala (archived here).
A search on Facebook for the phrases 'Lifetime achievement award", "speech" and "gala" (archived here) brought up dozens of results with almost exactly the same story but about different celebrities, athletes and politicians, accompanied by very similar images showing the celebrity in question paired with Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg. Lead Stories found posts mentioning:
- Stephen Colbert
- Blake Shelton
- Joan Baez
- Adam Lambert
- Andrea Bocelli
- Randy Owen
- Cher
- Johnny Depp
- Ithzak Perlman
- Neil Young
- Tiger Woods
- Jon Stewart
- Donny Osmond
- Bindi Irwin
- Joe Walsh
- CeCe Winans
- Dolly Parton
- Hank Marvin
(Image source: animation of Facebook search results for the phrases 'Lifetime achievement award", "speech" and "gala".)
Lead Stories has published a primer -- or a prebunk -- on how to identify these kinds of fake posts exported from Vietnam. It's titled "Prebunk: Beware Of Fake Fan Pages Spreading False Stories About Your Favorite Celebrities -- How To Spot 'Viet Spam'"
