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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

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

Recent picture of Shah Rukh Khan taking a selfie with the Ambani family when they watched the Pathaan film together

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a picture presented as a recent selfie of Shah Rukh Khan with the Ambani family after they watched Pathaan together. FACTLY’s review identifies the image as an older photograph and concludes that it was not connected to the film: “The photo shared in the post was taken in 2015 during the launch event of Reliance Jio 4G services in Mumbai.” The review states that the claim is false because “The photo is old and unrelated to Shah Rukh Khan’s recently released film Pathaan.” To check the image’s history, the review says it used reverse image search. That search located the same photo in a Financial Express article from December 2015, which described it as taken at the Reliance Jio 4G launch on 27 December 2015. FACTLY also found a similar image in a Hindustan Times article dated 28 December 2015. According to the review, that article identified Shah Rukh Khan taking a selfie with the Ambani family at the Jio launch in Mumbai. The review adds that Shah Rukh Khan himself tweeted a selfie with Mukesh Ambani from the Jio 4G launch. It reports no news accounts of the Ambani family watching Pathaan with Khan. Taken together, the image’s reported 2015 event provenance contradicts its presentation as a recent Pathaan-related photograph.

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

Video of the huge crowd that gathered for the Pathaan movie screening in UAE

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video presented as showing a huge crowd gathered for a screening of Shah Rukh Khan’s film Pathaan in the UAE. The investigation instead identifies the crowd as football fans at the Lusail metro station in Qatar during the FIFA World Cup. Its account says the crowd was trying to enter a building and that the footage had been circulating before the film’s release. The review distinguishes the setting shown in the video from the setting asserted in the post: Qatar, not the UAE, and football fans, not Pathaan moviegoers. To investigate the footage, the reviewers examined screenshots using reverse image search, then searched online for reliable information about the video. The review says the image search did not yield reliable details. It reports that users responding to a social-media post of the video identified the location as Lusail Metro station during the 2022 World Cup, and notes that some people visible in the footage wore Argentina jerseys. It also found the same video on TikTok, where it was posted with Lusail and World Cup hashtags and a description referring to the metro. The review adds a chronology supporting that identification: the TikTok video was posted on 18 December 2022, the World Cup final-match-day crowd at Lusail Metro station was also on 18 December, and Pathaan was released on 25 January 2023. Those details place the footage before the film’s release and associate it with the Qatar football event, rather than the claimed screening in the UAE.

Vishvas NewsCulture & entertainment

‘पठाण’ चित्रपटावरून शाहरुख च्या नावाने खोटे वक्तव्य व्हायरल

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a post attributed to Shah Rukh Khan saying that even if Muslims did not watch Pathaan, they could not prevent the film from becoming a hit. The review identifies the post as having been shared by Facebook user Rajesh Narsaria on January 26, 2023, amid opposition to the film. It reports that its investigation found the attributed statement was not made by Khan. The review says investigators searched for media reports that would support the claim and found none. They also checked Khan’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts and found no such statement there. The absence of a report or social-media post is not presented as the only basis for the conclusion: the review says Khan’s PR team directly denied that he had made the statement. The review also shared the viral post’s link with Smita Srivastava, a senior entertainment reporter at Dainik Jagran in Mumbai. She likewise said the claim was false and that Khan had made no such statement. Based on those reported checks and denials, the review concludes that the viral attribution was false.

Vishvas NewsCulture & entertainment

সোশ্যাল মিডিয়ায় একটি পোস্ট ভাইরাল হচ্ছে, যেখানে দাবি করা হয়েছে যে বলিউড অভিনেতা অক্ষয় কুমার 12 ফেব্রুয়ারি ভোপালে সংরক্ষণের জন্য ভীম আর্মির আন্দোলনে অংশ নেবেন। একই সময়ে, আমরা আমাদের তদন্তে পেয়েছি যে এই দাবিটি ভুয়া।

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

ម្ចាស់​កម្មវិធី “American’s Got Talent” Simon Cowell បាន​ស្លាប់​ហើយ

Publisher’s rating: False

Fact Crescendo Cambodia investigated a viral social-media story claiming that Simon Cowell, a judge on America’s Got Talent, had died in a car accident. The review describes a Facebook post stating that Cowell had died and says Khmer-speaking users widely reshared the claim. It also traces the story to a death-reporting video circulated on social media on January 12 and to a YouTube channel called Deceased Stars. The review says it checked reports on international media platforms and found no reliable news reports that Cowell had died. It points to a Mail Online report in which Cowell’s ex-girlfriend, singer Sinitta Malone, said friends had sent her prank messages about his death and that he was still alive. The review also cites NBC coverage that included Cowell among the three judges for America’s Got Talent 2023: All-Star. Together, these details address the claim about Cowell himself, rather than a different person or a separate event. The review further says the images accompanying the viral story—showing Cowell in a coma or on a medical bed—were digitally edited, citing a Tech ARP debunking report. Its conclusion is that Cowell was not killed in a car accident; the medical-bed images did not establish that he had died.