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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

The QuintCulture & entertainment

Has Bengali actor Victor Banerjee passed away

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a Facebook post attributed to “Jisshu Entertainment” saying that Bengali actor Victor Banerjee had died. The Quint reports that the post was shared by several social media users and that it received a query about the claim through its WhatsApp helpline. The review identifies the account as appearing to belong to actor Jisshu Sengupta, but says that appearance was misleading: Sengupta publicly clarified that the account was not his. The review gives two reasons the death claim was false. First, it reports that Sengupta addressed the account on Twitter, calling it fake and warning people not to believe posts from social media accounts that were not verified under his name. Second, it reports that Banerjee’s daughter, Keya Banerjee, clarified that her father was alive and busy with a shoot. The review attributes that report about Keya’s clarification to DNA. Together, the account’s disavowal and the reported statement from Banerjee’s daughter address both the post’s apparent provenance and its central claim. The supplied review does not include the original Facebook post itself or a direct statement from Victor Banerjee; those details should not be inferred beyond what the review reports.

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

Claim: MK Stalin watched Fathima Babu entry in Bigg Boss Tamil

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post at issue showed M.K. Stalin sitting with his grandchildren, with television footage of Fathima Babu appearing on the screen, and portrayed him as watching her Bigg Boss Tamil appearance. It was posted by the Facebook page DMK Fails on June 23, 2019. The review says the post’s accompanying dialogue also presented the scene as a joke about Stalin and Babu having a secret connection. The investigation focused on whether that specific image was genuine. [S1: “இந்த பதிவை, DMK Fails என்ற ஃபேஸ்புக் பக்கம் 2019 ஜூன் 23ம் தேதி வெளியிட்டுள்ளது.”; “இதன் மூலம், மு.க.ஸ்டாலினுக்கும் பாத்திமா பாபுவுக்கும் ரகசிய தொடர்பு இருப்பது போன்ற தோற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்த முயன்றுள்ளனர்.”] The review reports that the television image appeared to extend beyond the television set, which led its investigators to suspect the picture had been manipulated. They then uploaded the image to Yandex image search to look for its source. The review says this search located the original image and accompanying news report: the photograph showed Stalin with his grandchildren watching a cricket match in June 2017, rather than watching Bigg Boss Tamil. [S1: “புகைப்படத்தில் உள்ள தொலைக்காட்சியின் படம் தொலைக்காட்சியைத் தாண்டியும் தெரிந்தது.”; “உண்மைப் படத்தைக் கண்டறிய, yandex.com-ல் இந்த படத்தை பதிவேற்றித் தேடினோம்.”; “2017ம் ஆண்டு ஜூன் மாதம் நடந்த கிரிக்கெட் போட்டி ஒன்றை மு.க.ஸ்டாலின் தன்னுடைய பேரன் பேத்திகளுடன் அமர்ந்து பார்த்தார் என்று படம் மற்றும் செய்தி வெளியாகி இருந்தது.”] According to the review, the Bigg Boss television scene was added to that cricket photograph, making the circulated image a manipulated version of the original. The evidence therefore addresses the image used to support the claim, rather than merely discussing Stalin, Babu, or the programme separately. The review concludes that the Facebook post was false. [S1: “அந்த படத்தை எடுத்து மார்ஃபிங் செய்து தவறாக வெளியிட்டுள்ளது உறுதியானது.”; “இந்த பதிவுக்கு கமெண்ட் செய்த பலரும் இது தவறான செய்தி என்று குறிப்பிட்டிருந்தனர்.”; “Result: False”]

YouturnCulture & entertainment

குதிரையின் மேல் வீரர்கள் அமர்ந்து இருக்கும் சிலைகளை நிறுவும் விடயத்தில் ஒரு மரபு இருக்கிறது. குதிரையின் நான்கு கால்களும் கீழ் ஊன்றி இருந்தால் அந்த வீரன் இயற்கையாக மரணம் அடைந்தான் என்று பொருள். குதிரையின் ஒரு கால் தூக்கிய நிலையில் இருந்தால், அந்த வீரன் போரில் காயமடைந்து, பிறகு இறந்தவன் என்று அர்த்தம். முன்னங்கால்கள் இரண்டும் தூக்கிய நிலையில் இருந்தால், அந்த வீரன் போரில் வீர மரணம் அடைந்தவன் என்று அர்த்தம்.

Publisher’s rating: Fake

NewtralCulture & entertainment

La imagen de la Torre Eiffel iluminada con la bandera española de 2019

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a photograph circulated after Rafael Nadal won the 2019 French Open, supposedly showing the Eiffel Tower lit in Spain’s colors to honor him. Newtral reports that the company responsible for operating and animating the monument told the outlet that the tower had not been illuminated in those colors following Nadal’s victory. The review therefore rejects the image’s claimed connection to that 2019 event. To investigate where the photograph came from, Newtral says it conducted a reverse-image search and located the image in posts from 2016, 2017 and 2018. It identifies the relevant earlier occasion as the 2016 European football championship: Paris had arranged for the tower to display the colors of participating countries, and on June 13, 2016, it was lit in Spain’s colors. The review cites the company’s statement that Spain won the tower’s display that day through fan support on social media. The evidence distinguishes the photograph’s earlier provenance from its later circulation as a supposed tribute to Nadal. The review also notes that a separate, slightly different image dates to 2013 and was a photomontage on the cover of Marca, made for a France–Spain match. That separate image is not the 2016 photograph identified as the source of the later viral claim.

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

Claim: Priyanka chopra went in public without wearing inner wear

Publisher’s rating: FALSE HEADLINE

Fact Crescendo examined a viral headline claiming that Priyanka Chopra attended a public event with her husband without wearing underwear. The review says the item originated on the Behind Talkies website and was also shared on Facebook, including by the Madras memes page. Its subject is therefore the specific headline in this claim, rather than a separate report about Chopra’s clothing or public appearances. The review describes the headline as making a claim that the article itself did not substantiate. (S1) In its comparison of the headline with the article’s contents, Fact Crescendo says the article did not actually state that Chopra was without underwear. Instead, the article’s body described her as dressed very badly. The review concludes that the headline was written to attract attention and did not accurately represent the text beneath it. Its finding is limited to the mismatch between that headline and the article’s own description; the excerpt does not report an independent examination of photographs or other evidence about what Chopra wore at the event. (S1)

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

Claim: Mumbai port named as Rajendra chola

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social-media post saying the central government had named Mumbai Port after Rajendra Chola. The post used a photograph of Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at a ceremony, with a portrait of Rajendra Chola visible. The review says the image was shared on Facebook on June 6, 2019, and investigated whether the ceremony showed a port renaming. The review checked the port’s website and searched for Indian ports bearing Rajendra Chola’s name. It reports that Mumbai Port was listed as Mumbai Port Trust and that it found no information about a port named after him. It also notes that the photograph showed the governor and chief minister, not central ministers, although the post attributed the renaming to the central government. To identify the image, the review says it used reverse-image search and found news reports about the event. Those reports described a Maharashtra government presentation of a portrait of Rajendra Chola to a Mumbai shipbuilding company—not a renaming of Mumbai Port. The review gives the event date as September 29, 2016, and says the image was taken at that presentation. It concludes that the post misrepresented the ceremony as a port renaming.

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

Claim: Canada celebrated 150th Independence day on June 1, 2019

Publisher’s rating: Mixture

The review examined a Facebook post that said Canada’s 150th Independence Day was on June 1, 2019, and linked that date to a claim that the Canadian national anthem had been sung in Tamil for the anniversary. It found that the post’s date was wrong: Canada’s 150th anniversary was celebrated on July 1, 2017, not June 1, 2019. The review describes checking the post’s date and its author’s explanation, which referred to July 1 in a comment even though the post itself said June 1. The review also checked the separate anthem claim. It reports that Canada’s anthem was released in 12 languages, including Tamil, Punjabi and sign language, for the 150th anniversary, before the anniversary date. Thus, the post combined an inaccurate date with a claim about the Tamil-language anthem that the review found to be true. Its conclusion was that the post mixed true and false information, rather than that the anthem claim itself was false.

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

Claim: Rajini kanth called Tamilians are Barbarians

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim was attached to a Facebook post presenting what looked like a News7 Tamil news card. The card attributed to Rajinikanth the statement that Tamilians who did not recognize Modi’s worth were “barbarians.” The review reports that the post was shared as genuine, but says its investigation found that News7 had not published that card in the form circulated. To check the image, the reviewers compared its appearance with a News7 card published on June 3, 2019, noting that the circulated image lacked the font and central News7 logo watermark seen in the comparison card. They then searched News7’s Facebook page for the card apparently dated May 28 at 12:30 p.m. and found a card from that time about Rajinikanth praising Modi. Its actual headline said Modi had emerged as a leader in the line of Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Vajpayee—not that Tamilians were barbarians. The review concludes that the circulated image had been edited to add the inflammatory statement, and that the Facebook post was false. Its evidence therefore concerns the specific Rajinikanth attribution and the News7 card used to support it, rather than establishing that Rajinikanth made the statement.

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

V Mitchell has written a beautiful article on India in the New York Times.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a social-media post presenting V Mitchell as the author of a favorable article about India in The New York Times. The review says that attribution is incorrect: Mitchell posted a comment beneath a different New York Times article, rather than writing an article published by the newspaper. The review reports that a Google search using keywords from the post led to a Times article titled “As Elections Near, Tightrope Awaits in India,” written by Somini Sengupta and published April 14, 2009. It says the article concerned Indian elections and did not contain the information attributed to it in the post. The words used in the post were instead found in the article’s comment section, where V Mitchell was identified as the commenter. The distinction is between a reader’s comment and the newspaper article itself. The review also notes that the Ministry of External Affairs website placed Mitchell’s comment in its “Articles in Foreign Media” section, further illustrating how the comment could be presented as an article. The excerpts do not provide the comment’s full text or describe additional verification steps beyond the keyword search and comparison with the article and its comment section.