On June 17, 2024, the Facebook page America's Last Line of Defense (ALLOD) posted a quote meme claiming actor Kurt Russell said fellow actor George Clooney "hasn't worked in years" because "he's arrogant, conceited, and he never shuts up."
The post's caption read: "He's not even an actor anymore. He's just a political prop." A few social media users thought the post was sharing real news, while others saw the claim as fake. One user commented under the post, "Lost all my respect for Clooney."
(Facebook user America's Last Line of Defense)
However, this item about Russell and Clooney was not a factual recounting of real-life events. There was no evidence of Russell saying the alleged things about Clooney, and the entire story was a fabrication.
The introduction for the ALLOD Facebook page states: "The flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery. Nothing on this page is real." The page has a "Satire/Parody" label.
Also, the Facebook page links to The Dunning-Kruger Times, which describes itself as "a subsidiary of the 'America's Last Line of Defense' network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News."
That website's "About Us" section 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.
This rumor about Russell and Clooney was not the first time we've debunked claims stemming from the Facebook page — including a similar satirical story about Russell supposedly saying that working with Robert De Niro was "the worst six weeks of his life."
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.