On May 2, 2024, a user on X (formerly Twitter) named Wake Up America (@_wake_up_USA) posted a purported "breaking" news story about actor Kurt Russell. The post read, "BREAKING: Hollywood legend Kurt Russell just said that Illegal immigrants should be forcibly deported from America. What's your reaction?"
As of this writing, the post has been viewed over 1 million times:
Many other users on X reposted the claim. Some appeared to align themselves with the politics of former U.S. President Donald Trump, according to the information in their account bios.
Some users were skeptical. One responded, "I don't see any reliable report of Kurt Russell saying that illegal immigrants should be forcibly deported."
We, too, were unable to find even a shred of proof to support the claim Russell had made any such remark. We have thus rated the claim Unfounded, meaning we were unable to find demonstrable evidence to substantiate it. Such claims typically originate as hearsay, speculation or groundless rumor. Snopes has reached out to seek comment from both the earliest poster of the claim and a talent representative purportedly associated with Russell.
The earliest post appeared May 1 on X by an account named White Man (@wman132):
The post from @wman132 came just one day after Time magazine published a lengthy interview with Trump. In the interview, Trump told Time he would support using the National Guard to deport millions of migrants, should he win the November election.
Russell's Thoughts On Celebrities and Politics
In an interview with The New York Times published in 2020, Russell said he was against the idea of celebrities talking about their personal politics:
NYT: Speaking of an arena, Kurt, you've said in the past that celebrities shouldn't really weigh in on politics. Do you still feel that way?
RUSSELL: Totally. I've always been someone who felt we are court jesters. That's what we do. As far as I'm concerned, you should step away from saying anything so that you can still be seen by the audience in any character. There's no reason entertainers can't learn just as much as anybody else about a subject, whatever it is. But I think that what's sad about it is that they lose their status as a court jester. And I'm a court jester. That's what I was born to do.
We previously reported about other false or misleading rumors regarding Russell purportedly making remarks on the topics of Democrats, Trump and the idea of defunding police departments.