Kate Atkinson
WHAT WAS CLAIMED
E! News published a video stating celebrities received funds from USAID to visit Ukraine.
OUR VERDICT
False. The video is fake and there’s no evidence USAID funded the visits.
AAP FactCheck – Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr have shared a fake video which claims the US government aid agency paid millions of dollars to celebrities to visit Ukraine and promote the popularity of president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The claim is being made in a video which appears to have been published by entertainment news website E! News.
A popular conservative X account shared the video on February 5, where it has since gained millions of views.
“Did you know that USAID spent your tax dollars (millions) to fund celebrity trips to Ukraine, all to boost Zelensky’s popularity among Americans?” the caption says. The video includes E! News branding and claims the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) paid $20 million to Angelina Jolie, $5 million to Sean Penn, $8 million to Orlando Bloom, $4 million to Ben Stiller and $1.5 million to Jean-Claude Van Damme.
The X post was shared by Donald Trump Jr, and Elon Musk, who now runs an office within the executive office of the president called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The claim is also being shared widely on Facebook and Instagram.
A spokesperson for the news outlet confirmed to AFP that the video “is not authentic and did not originate from E! News.” There is also no evidence it was...
On February 26, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a significant False Claims Act (FCA) ruling in United States of America ex rel. Cheryl Taylor v. Healthcare ...
