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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

Telugupost FactcheckCulture & entertainment

1963 సంవత్సరంలో 'ఒమిక్రాన్ వేరియంట్' అనే సినిమా వచ్చింది

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a viral poster for a supposed 1963 film called “The Omicron Variant.” Telugupost reports that the poster circulated online during discussion of the Omicron coronavirus variant, and that social-media users—including director Ram Gopal Varma—shared it as evidence that the film had existed decades earlier. The poster’s tagline, “The day the earth became a cemetery,” added to the impression that it anticipated the pandemic. The review describes two checks of the poster’s provenance. A reverse-image search led investigators to identify it as an edited version of a poster for the 1974 film “Phase IV.” They also found the poster’s original image on a Spanish website, where its title was “SUCESOS EN LA IV FASE,” not “The Omicron Variant.” The review says Irish filmmaker Becky Cheatle confirmed on Twitter on December 1, 2021, that she had made the viral poster in Photoshop as a joke because “Omicron Variant” sounded like the title of a 1970s science-fiction film. The review distinguishes that fabricated poster from real films with “Omicron” in their titles. It reports that one film, “Omicron,” was released in 1963, and another, “The Visitor from Planet Omicron,” in 2013. Those titles do not establish the existence of a 1963 film called “The Omicron Variant”; the review says neither film concerns the coronavirus pandemic. The evidence therefore identifies the viral image as a joke based on altered “Phase IV” artwork, rather than an authentic poster for the claimed film.

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

Photo of Nyakim Getwech whom the Guinness Book of Records had acknowledged as the ‘Queen of Darkness’

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post paired a photo with two claims: that the woman shown was South Sudanese-descended model Nyakim Getwech, and that Guinness had acknowledged her as the “Queen of Darkness” for having the darkest skin tone. FACTLY’s review addressed both the identity of the person in the image and whether Guinness keeps such a record. It reports that the photo showed Australian model Florence Baitio, not Getwech, and that Guinness does not monitor records for skin tone. The review’s printed conclusion is supported by its stated findings: “The photo shared in the post shows Florence Baitio, an aspiring model from Australia, not the South-Sudan model Nyakim Getwech. The ‘Guinness World Record’ does not monitor records for ‘skin tone’.” (S1) To identify the woman, the review says it compared the post image with pictures on Getwech’s Instagram handle and used reverse image search. It found a similar photo posted on an Instagram account on 04 December 2020, where the model was named as Florence Baitio. It also found a video with similar visuals on Baitio’s Instagram account. The review describes Baitio as an Australia-based model working with Muuma Model agency. It concludes from these comparisons that the post’s image was of Baitio, not Getwech. (S1) On the Guinness claim, FACTLY says it found no information on the Guinness World Records website indicating that it monitors records based on skin tone. It further reports that, in August 2020, Guinness clarified in a tweet that it does not monitor skin-tone records. Separately, the user who received that reply said he had contacted Getwech about the claim and called it “misinformation.” These points address the claimed recognition independently of the mistaken identification in the image. (S1)

FACTLYCulture & entertainment

Rowan Atkinson – the person who played the Mr Bean character – died recently

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post discussed in the review claimed that Rowan Atkinson, the British actor who played Mr. Bean, had died recently. It also presented condolence messages for him. The review concluded that the death claim was false, reporting that it found no evidence that Atkinson had died and could not find anything confirming his death. The review describes several checks: it searched the internet for confirmation and checked the official Mr. Bean accounts on Facebook and Twitter, which it says did not mention Atkinson’s death. It also reasoned that a death of this prominence would be reported by news agencies around the world. These checks do not establish a specific date or location for the alleged death; the review’s stated conclusion is that it found no supporting evidence for the claim. For additional corroboration, the review points to earlier debunks and reports that the same claim had circulated on social media since 2012. It also cites an AFP fact-check from May 2021, saying that a spokesperson for PBJ Management, the talent agency managing Atkinson, confirmed he was alive. Taken together, the review presents the lack of confirming reports, the absence of a notice on the official accounts it checked, and the agency spokesperson’s confirmation as evidence against the viral claim.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaCulture & entertainment

FACT CHECK: ප්‍රවීණ රංගන ශිල්පිනී අයිරාංගනි සේරසිංහ දිවි සැරිය නිම කළ බවට අසත්‍ය පුවතක්!

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim concerns social-media posts saying veteran Sri Lankan actress Airangani Serasinghe had died. The review says such posts had circulated again and describes the death report as false. It specifically identifies a Facebook post wishing Serasinghe farewell and says the publication investigated the report’s accuracy. The review’s conclusion is that the information claiming she had died was untrue. [S1: “අයිරාංගනී සේරසිංහ මහත්මිය අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වූ බවට සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ ඉතා සීඝ්‍රයෙන් සටහන් සංසරණය වුණා.”; “අපගේ විමර්ශනය අනුව පෙන්වා දිය හැක්කේ සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ සංසරණය වූ සටහන් වල දැක්වූ පරිදි ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ රංගන ශිල්පිනී, අයිරාංගනී සේරසිංහ මහතා මිය ගිය බවට පළ වූ තොරතුර අසත්‍ය බවයි.”] To check the report, the review says it phoned the woman who provided Serasinghe’s care. According to the article, she said Serasinghe had experienced a sudden fall but was healthy and had not been suffering from an illness. The review also cites a statement by singer Dayan Witharana on his official Facebook account, and a Hiru News report describing a fainting episode at Serasinghe’s home and saying she was in good health. [S1: “අප එතුමියගේ නිවසේ දුරකතන අංකයට කතා කළ අතර එතුමියගේ උපස්ථාන කටයුතු සිදු කරනු ලබන කාන්තාව සඳහන් කළේ, හදිසියේ බිම වැටීමක් පමණක් වුව බවත් කිසිදු අසනීප තත්ත්වයකට ඇය මුහුණ පා නොමැති බවත් මේ වන විටත් නිරෝගී සුවයෙන් ඇය පසුවන බවයි.”; “හිරු News වෙබ් අඩවියද වාර්තා කළේ, අයිරාංගනී සේරසිංහ මහත්මිය නිවසේ සිටියදී හදිසියේ ඇතිවූ ක්ලාන්ත තත්ත්වයක් හේතුවෙන් නිවසේ ඇද වැටුණු බවත්, මේ වන විටත් ඇය යහපත් සෞඛ්‍ය තත්ත්වයෙන් සිටින බවත් එතුමිය විසින් පැවසූ බවයි.”] The article distinguishes the reported fall from the false claim of death: its conclusion says the fall did not result in a harmful condition and that Serasinghe was in good health. It also notes that similar death rumours resurfaced later, including in December 2022, when her son reportedly said she was well, and in June 2026, when Dayan Witharana reportedly said she was living at home. Those later references are presented as subsequent instances, not evidence that the original death claim was true. [S1: “සුළු අසනීප තත්ත්වයක් මත ඒ මහත්මිය සිය නිවසේදී බිම වැටී ඇති අතර එම අනතුරින් කිසිදු අයහපත් තත්ත්වයක් ඇති නොවුණු අතර මේ වන විටත් එතුමිය යහපත් සෞඛ්‍ය තත්ත්වයෙන් සිටිනු ලබයි.”; “2022 දෙසැම්බර් 31 වැනිදා රාත්‍රියේ හුවමාරු වූ අතර , ඇයගේ පුතණුවන් විසින් එම පුවත් අසත්‍ය බවත්, ඇය සුවෙන් පසුවන බවත් තහවුරු කර තිබෙනවා.”; “2026 ජුනි ද නැවත වරක් අයිරාංගනී සේරසිංහ මහත්මියට නිවන් සුව පතමින් සටහන් පෙළක් ම හුවමාරු වී තිබිණි.”]

Fact CrescendoCulture & entertainment

សូមដួងវិញ្ញាណលោកបានដល់ទីស្ងប់សុខ (RIP Mr Bean)😭🙏🙏

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim expresses condolences for “Mr Bean,” implying that he has died. The review identifies the subject as Rowan Sebastian Atkinson and examines Facebook posts saying he had died. It describes a post from the page “O Dear,” made on November 23, 2021, that paired his portrait with “Rest In Peace”; the review also reproduces a caption alleging a November 22 death. This directly matches the death claim in the supplied text. To check the claim, Fact Crescendo says it contacted Atkinson’s official agent and consulted other reporting. It reports that PBJ Management, the agent, said Atkinson was “absolutely fine.” The review also cites an India News Report item that said there were no credible reports of his death and no information from his family confirming it. These checks address the specific rumor rather than relying only on the appearance or circulation of the posts. The review concludes that Atkinson was alive and identifies the circulated death claim as false. It also notes that similar death rumors had circulated before, including one in May 2021. The excerpt supports the conclusion through the agent’s reported confirmation and the cited reporting; it does not provide a direct statement from Atkinson or his family.

Vishvas NewsCulture & entertainment

हॉलीवुड एक्टर रोवन एटकिंसन ह्यांची मृत्यू झाल्याचे सांगण्यात येत आहे

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

Vishvas News investigated a social-media post claiming that Hollywood actor Rowan Atkinson had died. The post used a photograph of Atkinson and a memorial message that gave his birth date as January 6, 1955, and claimed he died on November 22, 2021. The review says the death claim was a rumor, and notes that similar reports had circulated before. [S1]

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaCulture & entertainment

FACT CHECK: Mr.Bean මියගිය බවට පළවන පුවත් අසත්‍යයි!

Publisher’s rating: False

The review investigates social-media posts claiming that Rowan Atkinson, the British actor known as Mr. Bean, had died. One post used a condolence message, and the article says similar death claims had circulated earlier. The review reports that it found no foreign media reports of his death and describes the claim as a recurring hoax rather than a confirmed event. To explain the renewed circulation, the article points to a Twitter message attributed to “FOX BREAKING NEWS,” which claimed Atkinson had died in a car accident on March 18, 2017. It says this message had circulated before and that foreign reports characterized it as false. The article also notes that those reports said Atkinson was 58 in 2017, contrary to the age information in the circulating message. The excerpt does not identify the foreign reports by name, so their underlying evidence cannot be assessed from this text alone. The review says it contacted PBJ Management, which handles Atkinson’s management, and later updated its report with the agency’s response: the death story was false and he was in good health. It also cites a Netflixian Facebook post from the previous day saying Atkinson would appear in the sixth season of Peaky Blinders. Taken together, the review’s stated checks and the management agency’s response support its conclusion that the posts did not report a real death.