Fact check: Dave Chappelle COVID-19 news is true, but Fox News report image is altered
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The claim: Image of Fox News reports comedian Dave Chappelle tested positive for COVID-19 and canceled his shows
Since the beginning of the pandemic, many Hollywood celebrities, athletes and politicians have contracted the coronavirus. Viral social media posts claim stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle has now also tested positive for COVID-19.
The posts appear as a screenshot from an alleged Fox News article headlined, “Dave Chappelle tests positive for COVID-19 … Cancels Tx Shows.” Above the text is a purported headshot of Chappelle.
“It’s propaganda but I’m sure even Dave would find this hilarious,” one user captioned the screenshot, which was posted to Instagram on Jan. 23 and has over 1,800 likes.
Some users shared the same screenshot but noted that the man in the photo is not Chappelle. Others shared similar versions of the claim featuring a different image of the comedian that does not resemble the one in the purported Fox News article.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook and Instagram users for comment.
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Chappelle tests positive and cancels shows
Chappelle tested positive for COVID-19 before a scheduled comedy show on Jan. 21 and canceled his upcoming appearances, the Associated Press reported.
He was expected to perform over the weekend at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater in Austin, Texas, but those shows were canceled while he quarantines, according to his representative, Carla Sims.
Sims told the Associated Press that Chappelle had been performing socially distanced shows since June in Ohio and moved to Austin during the winter. She said rapid testing for the audience and daily tests for Chapelle and his team were also implemented.
Refunds will be available to ticket holders at their point of purchase. Chappelle is not experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, according to CNN.
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Article is not from Fox News, man in photo is not Chappelle
While it’s true that Chappelle tested positive for the virus, the image and text included in the screenshot is not from Fox News and the man in the photo is not Chappelle.
Fox News reported on Chappelle’s positive COVID-19 test on Jan. 22 with the headline, “Dave Chappelle tests positive for COVID-19.” The image and headline in the Fox News article does not match the one seen in the screenshot.
The man in the post is actually actor Bokeem Woodbine. A reverse Google image search shows the photo of Woodbine was captured by Los Angeles-based photographer Jordan Strauss, who is credited with taking the photo in an article from The Hollywood Reporter.
A Fox News spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY that the network did not use the photo of Woodbine in its reporting of Chappelle.
Further, on the right-hand corner of the image is a TMZ watermark. A search on the entertainment outlet’s site shows that the article’s headline matches the one seen in the posts, but the image does not. An authentic screenshot of TMZ’s article was shared to Instagram by comedian Joe Rogan, who was also scheduled to perform over the weekend.
Many people believe that Woodbine and Chappelle are celebrity look-a-likes. In a 2019 podcast episode on “Jemele Hill is Unbothered” Woodbine addressed how he is repeatedly mistaken for Chappelle.
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Our rating: Altered
It is true that David Chappelle tested positive for COVID-19, however, screenshots claiming to be an article from Fox News and featuring a photo of Chappelle are ALTERED. The man seen in the image is Bokeem Woodbine, who has been frequently mistaken for Chappelle. Fox News confirmed to USA TODAY that it did not use this photo of Woodbine in its reporting of Chappelle testing positive for COVID-19.
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Fact check: Fox News screenshot reading ‘Nancy Pelosi admits cheating’ and ‘Barack Obama was arrested’ is digitally altered
In the days leading up to U.S. President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021, some social media users shared an alleged Fox News still with text that reads: “Nancy Pelosi admits cheating” and “Barack Obama was arrested.” The image shows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi handcuffed and surrounded by FBI agents juxtaposed with former President Barack Obama stepping out of a car. The image is photoshopped, as Fox News has not reported either the comments attributed to Pelosi or the arrest of Obama, both of which are false.
Reuters Fact Check. REUTERS
Examples of posts making this claim can be found here , here and here .
Neither Fox News, nor any other major media outlet, has reported that Pelosi “admitted” to “cheating” in order to secure Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The same goes for the alleged arrest of Obama.
The alleged photo of Pelosi shared in the posts actually shows her head digitally superimposed onto the body of supposed Bonanno crime family leader Vincent Asaro, accused of participating in a notorious 1978 airport heist that inspired the movie “Goodfellas” (here), during a 2014 arrest in New York City. Similar Reuters images of the arrest can be found here and here.
The Reuters Fact Check team previously debunked videos on social media claiming that Pelosi was accompanied by U.S. Marshals into the Capitol on Jan. 13 because she was arrested (here). This was not the case, as the speaker was photographed and filmed two days later, on Jan. 15, at her weekly news conference at the U.S. Captol ( here , here ).
Reuters found conflicting sources for the image of Obama used in the posts. It appeared in a March 2014 article on the Estonian news site Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) (here) as well as an October 2014 article on EBONY (here). The image shows Obama exiting a car while a member of the Secret Service holds the door open for him.
Reuters recently fact-checked a video of Obama in a jail cell circulating on social media as alleged proof that the former president had been arrested ahead of Biden’s inauguration (here). This claim was also false: the footage shows Obama visiting the former jail cell of South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela in 2013 and Obama has not been arrested.
Both former President Obama and Speaker Pelosi were present at Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, as seen in Reuters images here , here , and here .
VERDICT
Altered. Fox News has not reported that Speaker Pelosi admitted to cheating on behalf of Democrats in the 2020 presidential election or that former President Obama was arrested. The alleged still is digitally edited, and neither claim is true.
Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts reuters.com/fact-check/about .
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