Obama not involved with person supplying drugs to Diddy
Entertainer Sean “Diddy” Combs is currently on trial facing charges of sex trafficking and sexual assault. He has pleaded not guilty.
Social media users have recently added a new spin to the reporting.
“BREAKING NEWS: It was just revealed in the Diddy freak off trial that former President Obama used to meet with the man that used to pick up drugs for Diddy,” read a May 20 X post.
But this is false, according to PolitiFact. President Barack Obama has nothing to do with this trial.
The false posts were screenshots of an X post from the Inner City Press and reporter Russell Lee, who is covering the trial. It showed an exchange between attorney Christy Slavik and Combs’ former personal assistant David James. It read:
Slavik: He met with a lot of people?
James: Yes… even former presidents.
Slavik: Which one?
James: Former President Obama.
However, Lee told PolitiFact that he deleted the post because, while covering a live event, “You do the best that you can, and if necessary delete (or) correct as needed.”
This exchange doesn’t appear in the trial testimony. The only mention of the former president was during a discussion about drugs. James testified that Combs took various ecstasy drugs including a pill in “the shape of a former president’s face.”
Slavik asked, “Which former president?”
“President Obama,” James said.
Biden was not replaced by a robot or clone
President Donald Trump recently reposted an odd statement about his predecessor on his Truth Social account.
“There is no #Joe Biden - executed in 2020. #Biden clones doubles & robotic engineered soulless mindless entities are what you see. >#Democrats dont know the difference,” read the May 31 post.
This is a baseless claim, according to NBC News. This was from an anonymous Truth Social user who has spread other false claims without any evidence or context. Trump has shared other unproven conspiracy theories in the past.
The late-night talk show hosts pointed out the absurdity of the claim.
“Right. In 2020, a secret cabal took out an old, slow Joe Biden and replaced him with… an older, slower Joe Biden. Oh yes. Totally checks out,” said Stephen Colbert, host of “The Late Show.”
And Jimmy Kimmel, host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” asked, “Aren’t robots and clones two entirely different things?”
Barron Trump not rejected by Harvard
President Donald Trump has been battling Harvard University and threatening to cut off federal funding to the school.
Some social media users have posted theories about the president’s son Barron or other members of the Trump family being rejected by the college.
“Can’t help but wonder how many Trumps got rejected by Harvard,” Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse wrote in an April 17 post on X.
But it’s not about Barron, according to USA Today. He didn’t apply. He recently completed his freshman year at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
“Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false,” Nick Clemens, spokesperson for the Office of the First Lady, told USA Today.
Barron did break tradition by attending New York University. The other Trump children went to either the University of Pennsylvania or Georgetown University.
Pope didn’t pose with Chicago rappers
A photo of Chicago native Pope Leo XIV was recently posted showing the pontiff with a bunch of rappers.
“Old photo of Pope Leo XIV in Chicago resurfaces online,” reads the caption above a black-and-white photo of the group.
But this isn’t real, according to Reuters. The image had been altered.
The original photo shows 11 men and was posted on Instagram by late American rapper King Von in August 2020. King Von was killed in November of that year. The photo of Pope Leo XIV was added to the image.
The post came from the X account @DailyNoud, which bills itself as the “#1 Source For PARODY Hip-Hop News. These are fake stories.”
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.