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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Culture & entertainment fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about culture & entertainment. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

3,169 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCulture & entertainment

Le mot anglais « fuck » pour désigner les rapports sexuels et le verbe correspondant « to fuck », pour la copulation, auraient un rapport avec une ancienne permission royale requise pour les plaisirs sexuels. Une publication sur Facebook prétend que les personnes « dans le passé, en Angleterre » avaient besoin de la permission du roi pour avoir des rapports sexuels entre elles. Les personnes ayant eu cette autorisation auraient été autorisées à apposer sur la maison une plaque portant l'abréviation F.U.C.K. pour « Fornication avec le consentement du roi » (Fornication under consent of King).

Publisher’s rating: L'affirmation selon laquelle le mot « fuck » est l'abréviation d'un permis sexuel délivré par le roi d'Angleterre est fausse.

The Facebook post describes a supposed practice in England: people needed the king’s permission to have sex, and those granted permission displayed a plaque marked F.U.C.K., said to stand for “Fornication under consent of King.” The review says it found no documentary evidence that a royal licence was ever required for sexual relations. It also points out that “fornication” refers to sex outside marriage, so the proposed expansion does not describe sex between spouses, as the post’s broad wording would suggest. The review compares the story with accounts of the word’s history. It reports that the Online Etymology Dictionary, citing the Oxford English Dictionary, gives early written forms as “fukkit” in 1503 and the word in its current form in 1535, in a reference to the behaviour of unmarried bishops. It also describes a possible Germanic origin and related words in several European languages. These historical details offer a linguistic explanation distinct from the claimed royal-permit abbreviation; the review does not present an early royal licence or plaque supporting the Facebook account. The review further notes that the F.U.C.K. story had circulated since at least 1995, and mentions another proposed expansion of the word as a separate, also erroneous explanation. Taken together, the evidence presented addresses both parts of the post: the review reports no documentary basis for the supposed licensing practice, and its account of the word’s recorded history and linguistic parallels does not support the claim that its letters derive from a royal permission.

Fact Crescnedo Sri LankaCulture & entertainment

ප්‍රවීණ ප්‍රහසන ශිල්පී බර්ටි ගුණතිලක මහතා මියගිය බවට සාවද්‍ය සටහන් පෙළක්! | Famous Sri Lankan comedian Berti Gunathilaka is dead

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined Facebook posts claiming that comedian Berti Gunathilaka had died. It describes a post by the page “Live Show in Sri Lanka” that used a montage of his photographs and a message bidding him farewell, and notes that the post drew both condolences and objections from people saying the report was false. To check the claim, the publisher says it looked for reports of his death in major electronic and print media. Finding none, it called Gunathilaka’s home and spoke with his son, Harsha Gunathilaka, who said his father was resting at home. The review concludes that Gunathilaka was alive and that the Facebook death claims were false.

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

Claim: Rumour being spread again that Singer Janaki passed away

Publisher’s rating: False

Fact Crescendo examined a social-media rumour that playback singer S. Janaki had died. The review says people were sharing the claim as true and describes it as a recurring rumour, rather than reporting a verified death. It also notes that some Facebook users mocked the claim. The review’s text identifies the subject as “பின்னணி பாடகி எஸ்.ஜானகி” (playback singer S. Janaki) and says the death rumour was being shared on social media: “பின்னணி பாடகி எஸ்.ஜானகி மறைந்தார்,” என்று கூறி சமூக வலைதளங்களில் பகிரப்படும் வதந்தி ஒன்றை பற்றி ஆய்வு செய்ய தீர்மானித்தோம். தகவலின் விவரம்: பலரும் இது உண்மை என நம்பி தகவல் பகிர்ந்து வருகின்றனர். As evidence against the rumour, the review reports that Janaki’s son contacted media outlets with an explanation within hours of the claim starting to circulate. It also says her close friend and fellow playback singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam condemned the rumour. The excerpt does not give the son’s exact statement or quote Balasubrahmanyam’s response, so it does not support adding details about what either said: “இந்த செய்தி பரவ தொடங்கிய சில மணி நேரங்களிலேயே, ஜானகியின் மகன் ஊடகங்களை தொடர்பு கொண்டு விளக்கம் அளித்திருக்கிறார். மேலும், இந்த வதந்தி பற்றி ஜானகியின் நெருங்கிய நண்பரும், சக பின்னணி பாடகருமான எஸ்.பி.பாலசுப்ரமணியம், கடும் கண்டனம் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.” The review further says a fan reached Janaki by telephone and asked her about the rumour. According to the article, she said people had deliberately spread such rumours about her for years. The review’s conclusion is that Janaki herself denied the report and that the death claim was false. The supplied excerpt mentions an audio recording and a linked news item but does not include the recording or further details about how it was authenticated: “எனவே, தன்னைப் பற்றி பரவும் வதந்தியை, எஸ்.ஜானகியே மறுத்துள்ளார். வேண்டுமென்றே சிலர் இந்த வதந்தியை பரப்பியுள்ளதாக, தெரியவருகிறது. முடிவு:உரிய ஆதாரங்களின்படி நாம் ஆய்வு மேற்கொண்ட செய்தி தவறானது என்று நிரூபித்துள்ளோம்.”

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

Claim: This Nataraja statue not found in Keezhadi

Publisher’s rating: Fact Crescendo Rating: False

The review investigated a social-media video said to show a Nataraja statue unearthed at Keezhadi. It reports that the video was being shared with a caption identifying the statue as found there, while excavation work was under way in the Keezhadi area. The review says the video showed a scene that looked more like digging for construction than an archaeological excavation, and notes that the Tamil Nadu archaeology department had not announced such a find.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCulture & entertainment

Schauspieler Macaulay Culkin («Kevin - Allein zu Haus») habe in einem Radio-Interview gesagt, dass Hollywood-Eliten Kinder in satanischen Ritualen ermorden würden. Als Quelle wird die französische Zeitung «Les Échos» genannt, die einen Artikel darüber kurz nach der Veröffentlichung entfernt haben soll.

Publisher’s rating: Es gibt keinen Beleg für die Echtheit des Artikels und des Interviews, auf dem der Artikel basieren soll. Die Finanzzeitung «Les Échos» teilte mit, dass der Artikel eine Fälschung sei.

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

Sudanese model ‘Nyakim’ has entered the Guinness book of records for having the darkest skin tone on Earth

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim under review is that Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech entered the Guinness book of records for having the darkest skin tone on Earth. FACTLY identifies her as an American model of South Sudanese descent and says the claim was circulating in a Facebook post. The review reports that Guinness World Records does not monitor records for skin tone, so the alleged record is not one it recognizes. To check this, FACTLY says it visited the Guinness World Records website and found no information indicating that it tracks skin-tone records. It also reports that Guinness World Records replied on Twitter that it does not monitor records for skin tone. These checks address the central premise of the post: whether Guinness maintains such a category. The review also describes a tweet by user @iChopTweets, who said he had contacted Gatwech about the news and called it misinformation. The tweet included a screenshot of that conversation, according to FACTLY. The excerpt does not reproduce the screenshot or provide further details about the exchange, so the reported Guinness response is the clearest evidence presented against the claim.

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

Mukesh Ambani tweeted that Shahrukh Khan was removed from ‘Jio’ sim card ads and was replaced by Akshay Kumar

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined a screenshot of a tweet attributed to Mukesh Ambani that said Shahrukh Khan had been removed from Jio sim card advertisements and replaced by Akshay Kumar. It identified the account shown in the screenshot as @Realmukeshamban and investigated whether it belonged to Ambani and whether the reported advertising change had been reported elsewhere. The review reported that Ambani had no official Twitter account, and that the account presented as his was impersonating him. It describes checking the account’s profile and using the Twitter analytics tool Foller.me to examine it. The account’s description claimed it was managed by Ambani’s media panel, but the review noted that the description was written in improper English and that the account had been created recently, on 4 June 2020. The review also found no media reports that Akshay Kumar had replaced Shahrukh Khan in Jio advertisements. It therefore concluded that the screenshot did not establish that Ambani had made the statement: the tweet came from an impersonating account, and the claimed advertising change was not supported by the reporting the review found.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCulture & entertainment

Une publication Facebook fait état du supposé décès d’Henry Winkler, l’acteur qui a incarné Fonzie dans la série Happy Days. On lit : « Ont le connais plus sous le nom de FONZY Henry Winkler Nous a quiter RIP FONZY » (sic!)

Publisher’s rating: C’est une fausse information. Henry Winkler n’est pas mort. Il a récemment posté des vidéos de lui.

The Facebook post claimed that Henry Winkler, the actor who played Fonzie in Happy Days, had died. The review identifies the post’s wording and checks the claim against evidence about Winkler himself, rather than relying on the post’s assertion: it reports that on June 21, 2020, he shared a video on Twitter, showing him drinking from a glass and describing the clip with the words “À une main.” The review also says it searched reputable media websites and found no obituary or report of Winkler’s death in American newspapers or in the cited entertainment sources, including IMDb, TMZ and Première. It notes that the death rumor had circulated before and been debunked, including in February and March 2019. Taken together, the recent video and the reported absence of death reporting contradict the Facebook post’s claim.

Fact Crescnedo Sri LankaCulture & entertainment

මේ ඉන්නේ අම්පාරේ සුපුන්, වයස අවුරුදු දහතුනයි, දක්ෂ මුර්ති ශිල්පියෙක්…| Sand Art by a young Indian Artist from Orissa interpreted as self art by a kid from Ampara , Sri Lanka

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post identified the pictured work as a clay sculpture made by “Supun,” a 13-year-old from Ampara, who had supposedly shaped his own face using his father’s pile of brick-making clay. The review investigated that specific image and attribution, rather than a separate example of sand art: it says the image was widely circulated with that description and that the investigation began after seeing repeated posts carrying the same claim. [S1: “කුහක නොවී අගය කරමු ඔහුව , මේ ඉන්නේ අම්පාරේ සුපුන්, වයස අවුරුදු දහතුනයි, දක්ෂ මුර්ති ශිල්පියෙක්…. තාත්තගේ ගඩොල් මැටිගොඩේ සුපුන් ඔහුගේම මුහුණ අඹලා අගය කරගන්න ඕන පොඩ්ඩෙක්..”] To check the attribution, the reviewers ran a Google reverse-image search. They report that the original image was marked “Shot by SN Art Sadananda,” and that S N Sadananda had posted it on his Facebook page and account. The review says the original post, dated June 2, described the work as made with sand, not clay. It also reports that the image matched the one shared as showing a child from Ampara, and that Sadananda confirmed in response to an inquiry that the work was his. [S1: “මෙම ප්‍රකාශයම රැගත් සටහන් පෙළක් සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ බොහෝ සෙයින් හුවමාරු වී තිබීම නිසා මේ පිළිබඳ කරුණු විමර්ශනයක් සිදුකිරීමට අදහස් කළෙමු. Fact Check (සත්‍ය තොරතුරු විමර්ශනය කිරීම) මෙවැනි පුවතක් ලංකාවේ ප්‍රධාන මාධ්‍ය තුලින් වාර්තා වී තිබෙනු දැකගන්නට නොලැබුණු අතර ඉහත ඡායාරුපය Google Reverse Image සෙවුමකට ලක් කිරීමේදී දැකගන්නට ලැබුනේ මෙහි මුල් ඡායාරුපයේ Shot by SN Art Sadananda යනුවෙන් සඳහන් වී තිබුණි.”] [S1: “ජුනි මස 2වැනි දින පළකර තිබු මෙම ඡායාරූපයේ දක්වා තිබුනේ මෙය මැටි භාවිතයෙන් නොව වැලි යොදා ගනිමින් කල නිර්මාණයක් බවයි. S N Sadananda යන ශිලිපියගේ නිර්මාණයේ ඡායාරුපය සහ අම්පාරේ දරුවකු යනුවෙන් සමාජ මාධ්‍යවල හුවමාරු වූ ඡායාරුපය එකක් බව පහත සංසන්දනයෙන් පැහැදිලි වන අතර ඔහුගෙන් මේ පිලිබඳ සිදුකරන ලද විමර්ශනයකදී එය ඔහුගේම නිර්මාණයක් බවද තහවුරු කර සිටියා.”] The review identifies the child depicted as Rajesh, an Indian child who served as the model, and says the artist was Sadananda, from Odisha, India. Those details contradict the post’s identification of the child as Supun from Ampara and its account of the material and maker. The review’s conclusion is that the image shows Sadananda’s sand work featuring Rajesh, not a self-portrait sculpture made by the claimed Sri Lankan child. [S1: “අපගේ විමර්ශනයෙන් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ “මේ ඉන්නේ අම්පාරේ සුපුන්, වයස අවුරුදු දහතුනයි, දක්ෂ මුර්ති ශිල්පියෙක්…. තාත්තගේ ගඩොල් මැටිගොඩේ සුපුන් ඔහුගේම මුහුණ අඹලා අගය කරගන්න ඕන පොඩ්ඩෙක්” යන සටහන යටතේ ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති ඡායාරුපයේ ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම සිටින්නේ රාජේශ් නමැති ඉන්දියානු දරුවකු බවත් සද්දානන්ද නමැති ඔරිසා ප්‍රාන්තයේ මුර්ති ශිල්පියෙකු වැලි මඟින් කල නිර්මාණයක් බවත්ය.”]