Conspiratorial claims about Hollywood A-listers have been rampant following the recent release of court documents detailing the late Jeffrey Epstein's associations with the rich and famous.
Papers unsealed in January, which named Epstein's connections to Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, among others, also led to baseless accusations about other completely unrelated celebrities.
In one post this week, Tom Hanks was said to have had his Academy Award Lifetime Achievement prize stripped from him in an online post tied to baseless accusations that Hanks was connected to Epstein.
The Claim
A post on Facebook by the account America - Love It Or Leave It, posted on January 14 and liked 2,900 times, included a photo of Hanks with text beneath it that said: "The Academy Awards Canceled Tom Hanks' Lifetime Achievement Award: 'There are too many questions.'"
America - Love It Or Leave It wrote under the story: "Too many questions is right. Tell us about the plane!" and included a link to an article in the Dunning Kruger Times with the headline "Academy Awards Quietly Cancels Tom Hanks' Lifetime Achievement Award: 'There Are Too Many Questions.'"
The Facts
The Dunning Kruger Times, to which the Facebook post linked, quotes "Academy Spokesman Joe Barron" saying "There are too many unanswered questions" and "The Oscars isn't a night for that kind of controversy to unfold."
The article mentions "rumors" of Hanks' "trips to a certain island."
However, all claims within it are false. To start, there is no "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the Oscars. The closest thing to it is the Honorary Award, which is given "for lifetime achievements, exceptional contributions to motion picture arts and sciences, and outstanding service to the Academy."
The Academy's website states: "The Honorary Award is not called a lifetime achievement award by the Academy, but it is often given for a life's work in filmmaking such as Polish director Andzrej Wajda in 1999 and Elia Kazan the previous year."
However it is referred to, Hanks has not received one.
There have been no announcements about taking back his two Academy Awards for his performances in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump. None of the other claims in the article are based on any evidence.
The Dunning-Kruger Times also said that it is a satirical site, even if some of its claims do not read as such.
On its About Us page, it states: "Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real.
"If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical."
America - Love It Or Leave It is a Facebook page connected to the Dunning Kruger Times, although the presentation of the article, its headline and related comments do not make that clear, nor is it clear that its content is meant as satire.
Posts of the same content on other social media networks such as X, formerly Twitter, do not make this context clear, either.
While it describes its content as fictitious, Dunning Kruger Times consistently produces articles that do not make their satirical or fictional nature obvious. In April 2023, an article it published claiming NASCAR had dropped Bud Light over its partnership with Dylan Mulvaney went viral amid boycotts over the transgender influencer's deal with the beer brand.
Whatever the intent of the article about Hanks, the claims within it are untrue. Newsweek has reached out to media representatives for Hanks and the Academy Awards via email for comment.
The recent unveiling of Epstein's celebrity connections through court documents has led to a string of other misleading and false claims about other public figures.
Earlier this month, a bogus list connecting Beyonce, Dwayne Johnson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Miley Cyrus and Snoop Dogg, among others. to Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was viewed more than 2 million times on X.
The Ruling
False.
There is no Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oscars. Its closest prize, the Honorary Award, has not been won by Hanks.
Hanks has not had either of his two Academy Awards stripped from him. There is no evidence that he has any association with Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, inferred in an online article connected to the Facebook post where this claim came from,
The article the claim comes from is on a "satire" website, which says all of its content is fictitious.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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