Is the King of Pop going to assist take down one other music magnate?
No, Michael Jackson might have danced as a zombie within the music video for his 1982 hit “Thriller,” however his physique stays entombed in a mausoleum on the California cemetery the place he was laid to relaxation in 2009.
An Oct. 17 Fb put up’s caption mentioned “SHOCKING NEWS: (VIDEO) Unbelievable! Michael Jackson found alive at age 65? And he’s set to testify towards (Diddy)!”
Diddy is the stage title of musician and music government Sean Combs, who was arrested Sept. 16 on federal intercourse trafficking expenses.
The Fb put up included side-by-side photos of Combs and what seems to be a man-made intelligence-generated picture of Jackson. Inset in these photos are one other AI-generated picture of an older Jackson subsequent to what seems to be Fox Information host Jesse Watters and a information chyron that claims, “They lied to us!”
Join PolitiFact texts
The Fb put up was flagged as a part of Meta’s efforts to fight false information and misinformation on its Information Feed. (Learn extra about our partnership with Meta, which owns Fb, Instagram and Threads.)
We discovered no credible new articles about Jackson being alive in a search of Google and the Nexis information database. And a search of Fox Information’ web site and YouTube web page present no tales or movies about Jackson’s being alive
(Screenshot from Fb)
We traced the AI-generated picture of Jackson that was subsequent to Combs to a picture generated utilizing MidJourney in 2023, when Jackson would have turned 65.
The Fb put up making the declare hyperlinks to an article that doesn’t point out Combs other than a headline. The picture of Watters and an older Jackson is embedded within the article, together with different photos speculating what an older Jackson would appear like, and a 2017 YouTube video claiming Jackson was alive.
One other Fb put up utilizing the identical caption linked to a distinct article with the identical headline and knowledge. That Fb account describes its web page as satire/parody.
A reverse-image search of the Watters-Jackson picture led us to a Sept. 30 YouTube video with that because the thumbnail. It was on an account that features a disclaimer noting the channel “is only made for leisure functions, based mostly on information, rumours, and fascinating hypothesis.” However the Fb put up resharing the declare didn’t embrace this disclaimer.
The video claims Jackson was noticed alive at age 65, however doesn’t point out Diddy. The YouTube web page has a number of AI-generated movies with photos of newscasters resembling Anderson Cooper or Lester Holt within the thumbnail.
We charge the declare that “Michael Jackson (was) found alive at age 65” and can testify towards Combs Pants on Fireplace!
