Brad Pitt Did Not Say Hollywood Pedophiles Control America
The Claim
Actor Brad Pitt said the U.S. is under the control of “elite Hollywood pedophiles.”
News posted on
Emerging story
The claim was originally included in a blog post published in 2017, and social media users began re-sharing it this month. It’s unclear who originally took the screenshot of the blog page and who shared it first, but it has been making the rounds on social media at least since February 2021.
Misbar’s Analysis
There is no evidence that Pitt said: “elite Hollywood pedophiles control America.” The claim was re-posted to a website called Social-Consciousness.com, which isn’t a reputable news outlet or source of information. The website indicates the original source was another site called Neon Nettle, which no longer appears to have the information. Social-Consciousness.com does not have an “About” landing page, and it’s unclear who runs it. Neon Nettle’s “About” page lists individuals who run and contribute to the site. But a media bias barometer says the site produces “low” rates of factual reporting.
The post on Social-Consciousness.com attributes the claim to Pitt himself, giving the impression that Pitt spoke to this outlet directly. It’s unclear whether (though unlikely that) Pitt granted and gave an interview to the writer of that post, whose byline doesn’t appear on the page.
Claims with similar subject matter are generally spouted by supporters of QAnon, a conspiracy theory that’s gained traction over the past few years partially saying that there is a group of powerful, pedophiles individuals running a global sex-trafficking ring. There is, however, no readily apparent connection between QAnon and either Social-Consciousness.com or Neon Nettle.
