On July 19, 2024, the Facebook page SpaceX Fanclub posted a meme claiming actor Jack Black was thrown out of the 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC) after begging to be allowed on stage with musician Kid Rock:

Some users in the comments appeared to believe the claim, with one writing: “Hit the road, Jack Black.” Another said: “I’m soooo disappointed in Jack Black.”

The rumor spread five days after Black’s Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass wished for someone not to “miss Trump next time,” in a reference to the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Gass and Black the latter of whom raised funds for the now-defunct campaign to reelect U.S. President Joe Biden — canceled their world tour after considerable backlash for the remark.

However, the claim about Kid Rock was fiction. SpaceX Fanclub stated in its Facebook Intro that “nothing on this page is real” and that their content was “satire.”

 

The meme also had a “Rated Satire” badge in the top-left corner.

Additionally, the pinned comment under SpaceX Fanclub’s Facebook post linked to an item on esspots.com, which read as follows:

Breaking: Jack Black Begged To Be On Stage With Kid Rock At RNC, Was Thrown Out Immediately, “No Wokes Allowed Here”

In a surprising turn of events at the Republican National Convention (RNC), actor and musician Jack Black found himself at the center of controversy after allegedly attempting to crash the stage during Kid Rock’s performance. Sources close to the incident claim that Black, known for his comedic roles and musical prowess, had fervently expressed his desire to join Kid Rock on stage, only to be swiftly escorted out by security.

Esspots.com described its output as being humorous or satirical in nature. Its disclaimer stated:

Welcome to Esspots.com, a website that specializes in satire, parody, and humor. Before you proceed to read our content, we would like to emphasize that nothing on this website is real. All of the articles, stories, and commentary found on Esspots.com are entirely fictitious and created for the purpose of entertainment only.

This website has a history of making up stories for shares and comments.

Further, Snopes ran the article’s text through online tools that detect content produced by artificial intelligence (AI), including ZeroGPT, QuillBot and CopyLeaks, all of which concluded the text had been Al-generated. Increasing numbers of articles containing false rumors on such sites are created the same way.

 

Snopes addressed similar satirical rumors from Esspots.com in the past, including the claim celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay kicked actor Robert De Niro out of one of his restaurants for being “woke,” and a rumor that singer Taylor Swift was banned from attending NFL games for being “too distracting.”

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.