On March 5 2019, an unexpected rumor that Fred Rogers (the creator and star of the beloved American children’s television show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood) was bisexual began spreading on LGBTQ news sites and social media in …
In February 2019, a Facebook page shared the following biographical meme about Samuel L. Jackson, detailing a purported drug addiction that defined his life before he got clean, which was around the time he appeared …
Was Samuel L. Jackson an ‘Unknown Heroin Addict’ Before ‘Pulp Fiction’? Read More »
In 2015, the following content (archived here), an apparent Tumblr screenshot describing the purported backstory for the preschool book series and television show Max & Ruby, started to circulate on social media: Underneath a still from Max …
Do Children’s Characters ‘Max and Ruby’ Have a Tragic Backstory? Read More »
After 2019’s annual Academy Awards, a Lady Gaga quote about a boyfriend who purportedly told her she would never succeed began circulating on social media. An iteration of that quote (archived here) published to Facebook one day …
Lady Gaga: ‘I Had a Boyfriend Who Told Me I’d Never Succeed’ Read More »
On February 6 2019, the Facebook page “Children of the Night” reposted a popular meme purportedly showing an amusing scene: actor Keanu Reeves fleeing paparazzi after stealing a camera from a photographer: Its caption stated: A …
Fans of the beloved sitcom Friends, which featured four, well, friends living in a late-1990s New York City apartment together and doing late-1990s things together, mourned together on social media in early December 2018 when …
As people began to get ready for the holidays in November 2018, social media suddenly became aware of an odd little rumor that had evidently passed under the radar months before. Apparently William Shatner, an …
Did William Shatner Record a Christmas Album With Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins? Read More »
Pop superstar Taylor Swift — once a darling of the far-right and alt-right crowds because of her “Aryan goddess” looks and their own fevered imaginations — broke a years-long policy of silence on political matters …
Taylor Swift’s Political Endorsements: The Rumors and the Reality Read More »
The days following a September 27th, 2018 hearing before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, in which Palo Alto University professor and Stanford research psychologist Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified that Supreme Court nominee Brett …
The ‘Amy Schumer Is Actually Christine Blasey Ford’ Conspiracy Theory Read More »
Celebrity death hoaxes are nearly as old as the internet, and they leave no one unscathed. In this case, it’s Justin Campbell (perhaps most recognizable as the “Jake from State Farm” actor. But he isn’t …
