RTL Today - Fact Check: Musk amplifies fake report claiming USAID paid celebrities to support Zelensky

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data-container=""></div> </div> </div><article class="article flavor-news--article"> <header class="article__header"> <div class="article__heading article-heading"> <div class="article-heading__inner grid-container"> <div class="article-heading__kicker"> Fact Check </div> <h1 class="article-heading__title"> Musk amplifies fake report claiming USAID paid celebrities to support Zelensky </h1> <div class="article-heading__metainfo"> AFP<span class="article-heading__seperator">|</span><span>Update: </span>20.02.2025 08:51 </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="article__content"> <div class="article__inner grid-container"> <div class="article__col" id="article_col"> <div class="article__main-media article-media"> <div class="article-media__image"> <div class="media-image"> <div class="media-image__container"> <img class="media-image__image responsive-img" src="https://stock.rtl.lu/rtl/1225/rtl2008.lu/nt/p/2025/02/11/06/8bf268cd68b8a814528f0e21862d30d7.jpeg" loading="lazy" alt="RTL"/> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="article__body article-body"> <div class="article-body__detail js-article-body-detail"> <p class="article-body__summary">Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr and other prominent conservatives are sharing a video that claims to show E! News reporting that the US's humanitarian agency paid millions of dollars to celebrities including Angelina Jolie and Ben Stiller to visit Ukraine and help boost President Volodymyr Zelensky's popularity amid the country's war with Russia. But the clip is not an authentic report, a spokesperson for the entertainment news channel told AFP, and Stiller has publicly rejected the allegations as false.</p><p>"<span>Did you know that USAID spent your tax dollars to fund celebrity trips to Ukraine, all to boost Zelensky's popularity among Americans?" says a <a href="https://perma.cc/4YAM-6E2B" target="_blank" rel="noopener">February 5, 2025 post</a> on X from "I Meme Therefore I Am," a popular conservative account that has previously <a href="../../storage/data/afp/factcheck_v2/EN/doc.afp.com.33CM9TF?fbclid=IwY2xjawIRzKNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZ_cRhvTMJC9lBfPE41OZtYNS81JmjSD80Qcn4Otf7RcdHl_mSp_VVTJHA_aem_GRLo9CtO6qctRauoC2jCDA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spread misinformation</a>, including <a href="../../storage/data/afp/factcheck_v2/EN/doc.afp.com.33VN4CG?fbclid=IwY2xjawIRzLVleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHWMk6jR0jfXgYibXHfYmHdC_lGfMjRZ-hRjiuc_zFaplAThIkjnltKQ8QA_aem_yQ37HJt0RaLMO96bKsihbw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about the Ukrainian leader</a>.</span></p><p>Billionaire Musk, tasked by US President Donald Trump with overhauling the federal government, <span>reposted</span> the clip to his more than 216 million followers on the platform he owns.</p><div class="ad-slot ad-slot--inside-article is-visuallyhidden"> <div class="ad-slot__inside-article"> <div class="js-ad js-ad--inside-article" id="inside-article" data-position="inside-article" data-articleid="" data-tags="" data-pagetype="" data-container=""></div> </div> </div> <div class="media-image"> <div class="media-image__container"> <img class="media-image__image " src="https://stock.rtl.lu/rtl/488/rtl2008.lu/nt/p/2025/02/11/06/08e2cdbb724383368dc2a793d50b6780.jpeg" loading="lazy" alt="RTL"/> </div> <p class="media-image__summary"> © AFP </p> </div> <p><a href="https://perma.cc/QPS5-3BA7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump Jr</a>, the president's eldest son, and <a href="https://perma.cc/8RW9-T39E" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sidney Powell</a>, a former Trump attorney who played an outsized role in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, also amplified the video.</p><p>The 36-second clip is mocked up in the form of a video report from E! News, with the entertainment news site's logo featured throughout. It claims the US Agency for International Development (USAID) "sponsored American celebrity visits to Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion began" in order "to increase Zelensky's popularity among foreign audiences, particularly in the United States."</p><p>Specifically, it alleges that the agency paid $20 million to Angelina Jolie, $5 million to Sean Penn, $8 million to Orlando Bloom, $4 million dollars to Ben Stiller and $1.5 million to Jean-Claude Van Damme -- whose name it misspells.</p><p>The <a href="https://perma.cc/9M9V-UJVS" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posts</a> sharing it <a href="https://perma.cc/8U8G-GYV2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">racked up</a> millions of <a href="https://perma.cc/BQ9L-EGTA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">engagements</a> across <a href="https://perma.cc/4KJU-PPF6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X</a> and other <a href="https://perma.cc/GNP7-FFVB" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>platforms</span></a>. They spread as <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250204-musk-s-us-government-takeover-sounds-alarm-bells" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Musk announced</a> the new administration's decision to shutter USAID, a mammoth agency that has for decades funded health and emergency programs as well as democracy promotion initiatives in around 120 countries, including the world's poorest regions.</p><p>The agency's website had previously been <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/hundreds-of-us-government-sites-go-offline-af5990a5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taken offline</a>, and its staff <a href="https://globalnation.inquirer.net/263446/us-aid-agency-places-global-staff-on-leave-as-part-of-trumps-purge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">placed on leave</a>, prompting concerns about <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/trump-power-play-triggers-showdown-with-courts-congress-97219c20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the legality</a> of Musk's actions and the impact on people around the globe who benefit from <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/life-or-death-consequences-for-millions-ngos-stunned-by-us-aid-freeze-f54c3dfc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">programs</a> linked to USAID. Russia has <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/02/06/russia-welcomes-usaid-cuts-calls-agency-machine-for-interfering-a87895" target="_blank" rel="noopener">applauded</a> the assault on the agency, which it has long criticized.</p><p>But the video and the story within "is not authentic and did not originate from E! News," a spokesperson for <a href="https://www.eonline.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the outlet</a> told AFP in a February 5 email.</p><p>While each of the actors named in the clip has been to Ukraine, there is no evidence of USAID funneling them money.</p><p><h3>'Lies coming from Russian media'</h3><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd8FH9oOvVQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jolie</a>, a <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/us/publications/angelina-jolie-humanitarian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">major donor</a> to humanitarian efforts worldwide, <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/angelina-jolie-makes-surprise-ukraine-trip-01651347007" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visited</a> Ukraine <a href="https://t.me/kozytskyy_maksym_official/2348" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in 2022</a> (archived <a href="https://perma.cc/ZZ85-RNV4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="https://perma.cc/WF3R-NJ5J" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>). She was serving as a special envoy for the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/us/prominent-supporters/former-special-envoy-angelina-jolie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UN refugee agency</a> at the time but made the trip in a personal capacity, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/02/1095921716/angelina-jolie-lviv-ukraine-refugees-volunteers-children" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> citing a UN spokesperson said (archived <a href="https://perma.cc/NYA4-9TSQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="https://perma.cc/8UXC-3YU2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>).</p><p>Penn <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/russia-blacklists-hollywood-actors-ben-stiller-sean-penn-01662384019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traveled</a> to the country in 2022 as he <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sean-penn-in-ukraine-film-documentary-russian-invasion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filmed</a> a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK5DS43jKhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documentary</a> about the war and Zelensky (archived <a href="https://perma.cc/G6LL-TFTR" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="https://perma.cc/8Q3C-3ZUR" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>). Stiller <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CfCxV9aJ3OS/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">met</a> the Ukrainian leader the same year while <a href="https://x.com/DefenceU/status/1538983366971777024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visiting</a> as a goodwill ambassador for the <a href="https://x.com/Refugees/status/1538823986443718657" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United Nations refugee agency</a>, and Bloom <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4ZzkJm5KfY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">met him</a> in 2023 as a <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-goodwill-ambassador-orlando-bloom-returns-ukraine-war-continues-devastate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNICEF goodwill ambassador</a> (archived <a href="https://perma.cc/QBF8-D4DS" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, <a href="https://perma.cc/94FD-7DL8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, <a href="https://perma.cc/AC69-MN7R" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, <a href="https://perma.cc/3QQV-H7L2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250206191853/https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-goodwill-ambassador-orlando-bloom-returns-ukraine-war-continues-devastate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>). Van Damme <a href="https://x.com/DefenceU/status/1602976648865120257" target="_blank" rel="noopener">went</a> to the country in 2022 "to deliver a message of hope and peace," according to his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvYMuKC8_tE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube channel</a> (archived <a href="https://perma.cc/97ZL-RY53" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="https://perma.cc/XS64-C9PA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>)</p> <div class="media-image"> <div class="media-image__container"> <img class="media-image__image responsive-img" src="https://stock.rtl.lu/rtl/982/rtl2008.lu/nt/p/2025/02/11/06/9807f4140892eb2daa80571d8663b155.jpeg" loading="lazy" alt="RTL"/> </div> <p class="media-image__summary"> © AFP </p> </div> <p>Stiller <a href="https://x.com/BenStiller/status/1887202576845971637" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to the viral video February 5 <a href="https://x.com/BenStiller/status/1887203752173519038" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on X</a>, saying that he paid for his visit to Ukraine in 2022, with no money kicked in from USAID and "certainly no personal payments" (archived <a href="https://perma.cc/TFY5-QVHT" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="https://perma.cc/VG3K-GWEG" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>).</p><p>"These are lies coming from Russian media," Stiller said in the first of two posts. "I completely self-funded my humanitarian trip to Ukraine. There was no funding from USAID and certainly no payment of any kind. 100 percent false."</p> <div class="media-image"> <div class="media-image__container"> <img class="media-image__image " src="https://stock.rtl.lu/rtl/487/rtl2008.lu/nt/p/2025/02/11/06/1692ca6602727ea17f3d1cc0587e4c84.jpeg" loading="lazy" alt="RTL"/> </div> <p class="media-image__summary"> © AFP </p> </div> <p>The UN refugee agency said in a <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/us/news/speeches-and-statements/statement-goodwill-ambassador-ben-stillers-work-behalf-unhcr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">February 6 statement</a> that Stiller "is not compensated for his work with UNHCR and self-funds his travel" (archived <a href="https://perma.cc/HW62-A68N" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>).</p><p>The UN <a href="https://search.archives.un.org/uploads/r/united-nations-archives/b/a/1/ba1e7c16d7604a50c347a58f74209aa15ad526a587ff5b24ee2129ebdadef04f/S-1093-0044-15-00004.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guidelines</a> for the Designation of Messengers of Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/Advocacy-Section/iseek/UNODC_GUIDELINES_GWA.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">say</a>: "Messengers of Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors shall not be paid a salary, although a symbolic payment of $1 per year or equivalent may be granted to them" (archived <a href="https://perma.cc/FZ6Z-XDGC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="https://perma.cc/9EAH-284C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>).</p><p>AFP found no evidence of USAID payments to any of the celebrities named on <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">usaspending.gov</a>, an official open data source compiling federal spending information.</p><p><a href="https://www.clemson.edu/cah/about/facultybio.html?id=30669" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Darren Linvill</a>, co-director of Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub, <a href="https://x.com/DarrenLinvill/status/1887323114846962059" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said on X February 5</a> that the supposed E! News report "has every indication of being a Russian fabricated video planted and spread using familiar methods" (archived <a href="https://perma.cc/HMT6-KL6L" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="https://perma.cc/D8Y6-MEY2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>).</p><p>Linvill said some of the <a href="https://perma.cc/UTJ5-6QG5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earliest accounts</a> to share the clip on X have frequently circulated <a href="../../storage/data/afp/factcheck_v2/EN/doc.afp.com.36KE2QZ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disinformation</a> originating with a Russian propaganda group researchers have dubbed <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/russian-disinformation-2024-election-storm-1516/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storm-1516</a>.</p><p>The video also spread in <a href="https://perma.cc/VCU2-SRR7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Russian Telegram channels</a> and on <a href="https://perma.cc/G42C-DZET" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pravda</a>, a Russia state media site, AFP found.</p><p>Other <a href="../../storage/data/afp/factcheck_v2/EN/doc.afp.com.328K3Y3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fake videos</a> deceptively watermarked with the logo of the British broadcaster BBC News have previously spread amid the war.</p><p>Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, <a href="https://x.com/AndriyYermak/status/1887539664573051048" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted on X</a> that the latest clip about USAID paying celebrities is "complete nonsense" (archived <a href="https://perma.cc/R8KP-3YRU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>).</p><p>AFP reached out to representatives for Jolie, Penn, Bloom and Van Damme, but no responses were forthcoming.</p><p>AFP has debunked other misinformation about Russia's invasion of Ukraine <a href="../../storage/data/afp/factcheck_v2/EN/list/War-Ukraine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p></div> </div> <a href="https://belux.edmo.eu/" 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