Fact Check

Did Jennifer Lawrence Blame 9/11 on President Trump's Stealing the Election?

A fabricated and nonsensical quote about the September 11th terrorist attacks and President Trump was falsely attributed to actress Jennifer Lawrence.

Published Sept. 20, 2018

 (Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com)
Image Via Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
Actress Jennifer Lawrence said that the terrorist attacks on 9/11 wouldn't have happened if Donald Trump hadn't stolen the election.

On 14 September 2018, the "Capitalist" Facebook page shared an image of actress Jennifer Lawrence along with a nonsensical quote ostensibly uttered by her about the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 and President Donald Trump:

"It makes me sad on 9/11, to know that the Twin Towers and all the people inside them would still be here if Trump had not stolen the election."

These words were not spoken by Jennifer Lawrence. This fictional phrasing was made up out of whole cloth in order to paint Lawrence, and Hollywood stars in general, as imbecilic.

The "Capitalist" Facebook page did not provide any source information about where and when Lawrence allegedly made this statement. The included photograph appeared to insinuate that Lawrence did so while talking to reporters on the red carpet during the premiere of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 2, but that event took place in November 2015, approximately a year before Donald Trump won (stolen or not) the 2016 presidential election.

Lawrence has voiced her displeasure about Donald Trump's election as President of the United States, but she never stated that 9/11 wouldn't have happened if Trump hadn't "stolen" the election.

Although the conceit of this meme (that somebody would blame President Trump for 9/11 despite the fact that George W. Bush was president in 2001) appears to be a joke, social media users have evidenced similar mistakes. A number of Twitter users (most of whom appeared to be bots) retroactively blamed President Obama for the government's response to Hurricane Katrina (Obama took office more than three years after the 2005 storm), and a viral clip from the comedy program The Daily Show apparently captured a supporter of President Trump's blaming Barack Obama for the terrorist attacks in 2001:

Sources

Harwood, Erika.   "All of Jennifer Lawrence's 'Hunger Games' Red Carpet Looks."     MTV.   16 November 2015.

Oppenheim, Maya.   "Jennifer Lawrence Says Donald Trump's Election Left Her Devastated and Helpless: 'My Head Exploded.'"     The Independent.   24 February 2018.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.