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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

Logically FactsCulture & entertainment

Dior has replaced Bella Hadid with an Israeli model in their latest campaign supporting Palestine.

Publisher’s rating: False

Related reporting says the viral claim connected May Tager’s appearance in Dior’s holiday campaign with Bella Hadid’s absence, suggesting Dior had discarded Hadid because of her Palestinian advocacy. It reports, however, that Hadid’s Dior contract ended in March 2022—more than a year before October 7—and that Tager had already appeared in Dior’s 2022 holiday campaign. Those dates run counter to the suggestion that Tager took Hadid’s place as a response to the war or Hadid’s advocacy. The excerpt does not describe a separate investigation by Logically Facts or provide underlying contract records or campaign materials, so the explanation here is limited to the chronology reported by this related source. That chronology supports rejecting the claim that the change was a new wartime replacement, but the excerpt alone does not establish every detail of Dior’s casting decisions or intentions.

Fact Crescendo CambodiaCulture & entertainment

Beautiful boat decoration during Water Festival in Cambodia

Publisher’s rating: Altered

The review investigated four photos posted to Facebook on November 26, 2023. The post presented them as showing a beautifully decorated boat parade during Cambodia’s Water Festival, which the post said took place November 26–28. The review reports that the pictures circulated with celebratory wording and were also shared as video clips on YouTube and on Cambodia Expats Online. Its conclusion concerns the pictured scenes, not whether the Water Festival itself took place. (S1: “On November 26, 2023, a Facebook user posted four photos showing the boat parade. With a beautiful Khmer decoration on a river, these photos are attached to the celebration of the Water Festival, which took place on November 26, 27, and 28, 2023.”; “Fact Crescendo Cambodia also recently found several images attached and posted as video clips on YouTube.”) To check the images, the review says it used Google Reverse Image Search. It reports finding photos of the Royal Lantern Parade, ministries, and institutions on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet’s Facebook page, dated November 26, 2023; those photos did not show the decorated boats and lanterns depicted in the viral pictures. The review also points to a view of the Royal Palace Lantern Parade and to a TVK broadcast and a Fresh News report as examples of coverage of the actual Water Festival. (S1: “Fact Crescendo Cambodia monitors and verifies these images through the Google Reverse Image Search process”; “Photos of the Royal Lantern Parade, Ministries, and Institutions have been found and posted on the Facebook Page of the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Manet, on November 26, 2023, which did not show the view of decorating the boat and beautiful lanterns on the occasion of the Water Festival in Cambodia, as posted above.”) The review’s conclusion is that the circulated boat-decoration photos were AI-created, rather than photographs of actual Water Festival scenes. The excerpt describes the reverse-image-search findings and identifies the comparison material, but does not provide technical image-analysis details or explain how each of the four images was generated. (S1: “Fact Crescendo Cambodia has found that the photos posted by the users above are altered. These photos were created by artificial intelligence (AI) technology, not the actual scenes at all.”)

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

ខ្មែរ ១៧​លាន​នាក់​ឃើញ​ហើយ​ចែក​រំលែក​ឱ្យ​ពិភព​លោក​បាន​ស្គាល់​ផង អក្សរ​ខ្មែរ​យើង​ដែល​គេ​បាន​រក​ឃើញ​សរសេរ​មុន​គេ​បង្អស់​នៅ​សិលា​ចារឹក​អង្គរបុី​នៅ​ដើម​សតវត្សរ៍​ទី​៧ គឺ​នៅ​ឆ្នាំ​៦១១ នៃ​គ.ស.។

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim says the pictured inscription was found at Angkor Borey and is the earliest Khmer writing, dating to 611 CE; the circulated caption also said 17 million people had shared it. Fact Crescendo’s investigation focused on whether the image showed an inscription from Angkor Borey and whether the inscription was correctly identified. The article describes interviewing Vong Sotheara, a history professor specializing in Khmer inscriptions, and reviewing historical studies.

dpaCulture & entertainment

Auf dem Andreasmarkt in Karlstadt gab es statt Glühwein und gebratener Mandeln gebratene türkische Knoblauchwurst und Tantuni.

Publisher’s rating: Nein. Auf dem Andreasmarkt in Karlstadt gab es auch typisch vorweihnachtliche Dinge wie Glühwein, Mandeln und Bratwürste. Nach Angaben der Stadt handelte es sich nicht um den Weihnachtsmarkt von Karlstadt, sondern einen Markt anlässlich eines verkaufsoffenen Sonntags. Eröffnet worden sei er vom Bürgermeister.

dpaCulture & entertainment

Een deelnemer aan een Amerikaans TV-show kreeg een speciale Zelenskytattoo.

Publisher’s rating: De video werd bewerkt. In werkelijkheid dateert het van 2017 en komt het uit het MTV UK-programma Just Tattoo of Us. Daarin kreeg een deelnemer het gezicht van een vriend op zijn buik getatoeëerd.

The video in the claim does not show a participant getting a tattoo of Volodymyr Zelensky. The investigation traced the footage to Just Tattoo of Us, an MTV UK programme, and says the episode aired in 2017. It was the second episode of the show’s second season—two years before Zelensky became Ukraine’s president. The review reports that a reverse image search using a screenshot from the video led to the programme as the footage’s source. It then identifies the people in the episode as friends PJ and Harrison: the clip shows the reveal of Harrison’s tattoo, which was a portrait of PJ on Harrison’s abdomen. This evidence explains the mismatch between the social-media description and what the video actually depicts: the tattoo was of a friend, not Zelensky, and the footage came from an older UK programme rather than the alleged American show.