Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg have partnered with Elon Musk to invest between $1 billion and $3 billion into a non-woke film studio committed to traditional family values.
False. The claim comes from a satirical article and Mr Gibson’s publicist has confirmed it is “not true”.
Social media posts claiming that actors Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg have partnered with the entrepreneur Elon Musk to invest between $1 billion and $3 billion in a “non-woke” film studio committed to traditional family values are recirculating online.
We debunked a very similar claim last year, which we found originated from a satirical website.
Many of the posts use similar language to the headline in an old satirical article, which said: “Breaking: Elon Musk Invests $1 Billion in Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg’s New Un-Woke Production Studio”.
The Esspots website this article appeared on describes itself as a “one-stop destination for satirical news and commentary about the United States of America” which is “dedicated to bringing you the latest and greatest in fake news and absurdity”.
The article page itself is also labeled “satire”.
A spokesperson for Mel Gibson told Reuters that the claim is “not true.” Full Fact has reached out to Mr Gibson, Mr Wahlberg and Mr Musk and will update this article if they respond.
We have previously fact checked a number of articles and quotes that originated from satire websites but were later shared as if they were genuine, including one claiming Mr Musk agreed to buy CNN for $3 billion.
False information like this can spread quickly online—our toolkit provides tips for verifying this type of content yourself.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as satire because the claim originated on a satirical website and Mr Gibson’s publicist has confirmed the plan for a “non-woke studio” is “not true”.
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