Fact Check

Image Shows Jaleel White, Will Smith and Mark Wahlberg Playing Basketball?

A photo of the three actors was being shared on social media.

Nick Hardinges

Published March 18, 2024

Jaleel White, Mark Wahlberg and Will Smith playing basketball at 1991 MTV Rock 'n Jock Basketball in Los Angeles. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)
Jaleel White, Mark Wahlberg and Will Smith playing basketball at 1991 MTV Rock 'n Jock Basketball in Los Angeles. (Image courtesy of Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)
Claim:
A black-and-white photo shared in March 2024 shows Jaleel White, Mark Wahlberg and Will Smith playing basketball in 1991.
Rating:
True
True

About this rating

On March 10, 2024, a user on X (formerly Twitter) uploaded a black-and-white image of three people playing basketball and claimed it showed actors Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg and Jaleel White "shooting hoops" in 1991.

The image, which had amassed more than 450,000 views on X as of this writing, was real and was captured on Jan. 9, 1991, according to Getty Images. 

It shows the three young actors playing basketball during the 1991 "MTV Rock N' Jock B-Ball Jam" in Los Angeles.

The trio can be seen in the same clothes in another photo from the event, while other images separately show Smith, Wahlberg and White.

The picture was also used in a November 2014 HuffPost news article.

Sources

'Jaleel White and Will Smith during 1991 MTV Rock 'n Jock Basketball...' Getty Images, 30 Mar. 2011, https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/jaleel-white-and-will-smith-during-1991-mtv-rock-n-jock-news-photo/111163589.

'Jaleel White, Mark Wahlberg and Will Smith during 1991 MTV Rock 'n...' Getty Images, 30 Mar. 2011, https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/jaleel-white-mark-wahlberg-and-will-smith-during-1991-mtv-news-photo/111163607.

'Mark Wahlberg and Jaleel White during 1991 MTV Rock 'n Jock...' Getty Images, 30 Mar. 2011, https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/mark-wahlberg-and-jaleel-white-during-1991-mtv-rock-n-jock-news-photo/111163600.

'Mark Wahlberg during 1991 MTV Rock 'n Jock Basketball in Los Angeles,...' Getty Images, 30 Mar. 2011, https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/mark-wahlberg-during-1991-mtv-rock-n-jock-basketball-in-los-news-photo/111163596.

'These Vintage MTV "Rock N" Jock' Photos Are The Gift That Keeps On Giving'. HuffPost UK, 12 Nov. 2014, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mtv-rock-n-jock-photos_n_6142080.

'Will Smith during 1991 MTV Rock 'n Jock Basketball in Los Angeles,...' Getty Images, 30 Mar. 2011, https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/will-smith-during-1991-mtv-rock-n-jock-basketball-in-los-news-photo/111164826.

By Nick Hardinges

Nick Hardinges is a London-based reporter who previously worked as a fact-checker at Reuters.