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Fake video claims USAID paid Hollywood actors to visit Ukraine

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This article was first published by Truthmeter.mk (North Macedonia), within the framework of Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Project.

The video and its accompanying story are neither authentic nor sourced from E! News. Darren Linvill, Co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, stated on social network X that the purported E! News video has every indication of being a Russian fabricated video planted and spread using familiar methods

 

We analyze a Facebook post which says:

Do you remember when a number of Hollywood stars “inspired by the courage” of Ukrainians and in the name of “democracy” expressed their support for that dummy in Ukraine? Well, it wasn’t a matter of persuasion, it was about the money. USAID has given them millions of dollars in incentives. Not only USAID, but that pedophile nest called Hollywood also needs to be destroyed.
The post also shares a video allegedly posted by E! News (the E! News logo is seen in the video) that says USAID sponsored American stars to visit Ukraine after the Russian military invasion.
The video states the agency paid $20 million to Angelina Jolie, $5 million to Sean Penn, $8 million to Orlando Bloom, $4 million to Ben Stiller, and $1.5 million to Jean-Claude Van Damme—whose name is misspelled.

However, the video and its story are neither authentic nor from E! News, a spokesperson from the network told AFP on February 5.

Darren Linvill, Co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, stated on social network X that the purported E! News video „has every indication of being a Russian fabricated video planted and spread using familiar methods.”

The video has also spread to Russian Telegram channels, as well as Pravda, Russia’s state media site, AFP reports.

Although each of the actors named in the video was in Ukraine, there is no evidence to suggest that USAID provided them with any funding.

Angelina Jolie, a major donor to humanitarian efforts around the world, visited Ukraine in 2022. She was serving as a special envoy for the UN Refugee Agency at the time, but she had traveled to Ukraine in her personal capacity, the UN spokesman said.
Sean Penn traveled to Ukraine in 2022 while filming a documentary about the war and Zelensky. Ben Stiller met the Ukrainian leader that same year while he was on a visit as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency, while Orlando Bloom met him in 2023 as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Van Dam went to Ukraine in 2022 “to deliver a message of hope and peace,” according to his YouTube channel.
Actor Ben Stiller responded to the video on the social network X on February 5, stating that he paid for the visit to Ukraine in 2022 himself, without any money from USAID and of course his visit was not at someone else’s expense.

These are lies coming from Russian media. I completely self-funded my humanitarian trip to Ukraine. There was no funding from USAID and certainly no payment of any kind. 

In a statement released on the 6th of February 2025, the UN Refugee Agency said Stiller “is not compensated for his work with UNHCR and self-funds his travel.

Ben has been supporting UNHCR since 2016 and has been a Goodwill Ambassador since 2018. We are grateful for Ben’s longstanding support to refugees and forcibly displaced people, says the statement.

Sean Penn’s attorney, Matthew Rosengart, in a statement made for AFP said the video’s claims about USAID paying the actor are “completely false, and it is dangerous and irresponsible for anyone to regurgitate this propaganda and these falsehoods.”

If these false, reckless and defamatory statements continue, Mr. Penn will take all appropriate legal action, he added.

Andriy Yermak, Head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine, said on X  that the newest clip claiming USAID is paying celebrities is “complete nonsense.”

Taking all of this into account, we assess the post as untrue.

 

 

Oliver
Oliver

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