Did either Karoline Leavitt, Sunny Hostin, Whoopi Goldberg, or Joy Behar say that Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, or a dozen other major artists is "just a musician"? No, that's not true: The claim was made about at least 16 different entertainers in posts published on dozens of fake Facebook fan pages aimed at American and European audiences, but produced from Vietnam. It's part of a clickbait operation that uses AI tools described by some fact checkers as "Vietspam".
One example is a post (archived here) about Paul McCartney shared by the Brass Echo Valley page on January 25, 2026, with a caption that opened:
"HE'S JUST A MUSICIAN." That's what Senator Karoline Leavitt said--seconds before the studio erupted into a televised earthquake, and Paul McCartney responded with a single line that left her frozen on live TV.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Jan 26 03:55:36 2026 UTC)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
The MCCartney post continued:
Leavitt had dismissed McCartney's concerns about the growing disconnect between political elites and ordinary citizens with a condescending wave of her hand. "Stick to the stage, Paul," she scoffed, already turning to the next camera. "Complex policy debates are a bit out of your league. Stick to singing about love and nostalgia. Leave the thinking to us."
The audience went silent. The panel exchanged knowing smirks, expecting the legendary Beatle to laugh it off or crack a self-deprecating joke. They were wrong. The warmth vanished from Paul's expression. The charm disappeared instantly.
The fictional story of a clash between Leavitt, who is not a senator but the White House press secretary, during a television show was written by artificial intelligence tools managed from Vietnam, according to Meta's transparency data.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
The text includes a link to an article (archived here) that Lead Stories has confirmed through previous investigation to be published from Vietnam.
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. Lead Stories previously identified and debunked a series of posts making similar claims about dozen of other celebrities, athletes and politicians.
A search on Facebook for posts with the words "He's just a musician" (archived here) brought up the nearly identical false story told about at least 16 musicians. They vary with the statement being "He's just a musician," "He's just a guitar player," and "he's just a violinist," with four different women -- including Karoline Leavitt, Sunny Hostin, Whoopi Goldberg, and Joy Behar -- purportedly saying it. The list of male artists targeted include:
- Paul McCartney
- Jackson Browne
- Kid Rock
- Itzhak Perlman
- Phil Collins
- George Strait
- Carlos Santana
- Eric Clapton
- Paul Stanley
- Björn Ulvaeus
- Bob Dylan
- Dave Mustaine
- Jimmy Page
- David Gilmour
- Stevie Wonder
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshots of Facebook)
