Does a photo show Hollywood actors, including Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, attending the funeral of Chuck Norris? No, that's not true: An online AI image detection tool found it to be 100% likely AI-generated. A separate analysis further revealed a SynthID watermark, indicating the image was created or edited using Google AI tools.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by Sirbalo Comedy on Facebook on March 22, 2026. It read:
Hollywoodd Actor Came out to pay last respects to Chuck Norris's - We willl miss you. Who can you see there
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by Sirbalo Comedy on Facebook.)
Norris died on March 19, 2026. His family described his death as 'sudden' in a social media post (archived here) on March 20, 2026, adding:
While our hearts are broken, we are deeply grateful for the life he lived and for the unforgettable moments we were blessed to share with him. The love and support he received from fans around the world meant so much to him, and our family is truly thankful for it. To him, you were not just fans, you were his friends.
Image analysis
Lead Stories ran the image through Gemini, Google's AI assistant (archived here). It reached these conclusions:
The image you've shared is AI-generated. ...
SynthID Detection: Analysis of the image detected a SynthID watermark, which is a tool used to identify content generated or edited with Google's AI models.
Separately, the Hive Moderation AI-Generated Content Detection tool concluded the image was 100% "likely to be AI-generated":
(Image source: Hive Moderation.)
The image also has Norris' name wrong. A nameplate on the casket reads "Charles 'Chuck' Norris." His actual given name is Carlos Ray Norris (archived here).
Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo! News (archived here) and did not find any matching reports for "Chuck Norris funeral arrangements" for March 2026. There is no evidence that any funeral arrangements were ever publicly announced.
Additionally, the Sirbalo Comedy Facebook account (archived here) includes a general disclaimer that says: "Sirbalo Comedy is dedicated to bringing you fresh comedy daily." This is how the account looked at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by Sirbalo Comedy on Facebook.)
