The Дженни Бурджанадзе Facebook account, whose pieces of disinformation have been verified by FactCheck multiple times in the past (1, 2, 3) has disseminated another item of fake news. According to the post, American actor John McGinely addressed the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and urged him to treat his drug dependency.
Of interest is that the actor really addresses someone named Vladimir in the recording, although he does not mention either Zelensky or Ukraine or anything that could possibly link the video address with Zelensky. In addition, the actor says in the video that he was contacted and given the aforementioned information about Vladimir's drug addiction by someone named Jane.
Of note is that there is a website called cameo.com where, for a certain amount of money, it is possible to order famous people to record a video of their desired content. John McGinley also has his own page on Cameo.com where the price of the video is USD 475.
The disinformation purveyors claim that the actor's Instagram page was blocked after the video was posted but John McGinley does not in fact have his own Instagram account.
Mr McGinley actively uses Twitter. On his twitter account, we found a post published in 2021 where the actor says that a fake Instagram page was created in his name.
The post published on the Instagram page of the actor's fan club reads that the video circulating on social networks, where it seems that he addresses President Zelensky, is not true and was created for cameo.com.
A post published on the same page a few weeks ago reiterates that the actor does not use Instagram.
The Ukrainian fact-checking organisation StopFake also verified the aforementioned information.
Thus, the claim that American actor John McGinley referred to the President of Ukraine as a drug addict and called for his treatment is false.
Importantly, videos of similar content, in which American actors ostensibly talk about Volodymyr Zelensky's drug addiction, are actively used by the Kremlin propaganda machine. For example, FactCheck previously verified similar pieces of information where propagandists claimed that the actor Elijah Wood referred to Mr Zelensky as a drug addict and recommended treatment. This claim was also found to be false.
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