Fact Check

Does Pic Show 'The Rock' Wearing 'Keep America Trumpless' Shirt?

Digitally editing photographs is one way people try to put words in celebrities' mouths.

Published March 14, 2023

 (Twitter)
Image Via Twitter
Claim:
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was photographed wearing a "Keep America Trumpless" T-shirt.

A viral photo circulating on social media since early 2022 appears to show action movie star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson sporting a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Keep America Trumpless." However, as we quickly learned by performing a reverse-image search, that photograph was digitally manipulated. 

This is how the altered photo looked on Twitter on March 12, 2023: 

We traced the image to promotional materials for the Dwayne Johnson film "San Andreas," in which he played search-and-rescue helicopter pilot, released in 2015. 

The original photograph (below, right) shows Johnson wearing a Los Angeles Fire Department T-shirt. The manipulated photo (below, left) shows someone's attempt to exploit the actor's image to promote their own political agenda. It's a technique often employed on social media.

a photo showing the dwayne the rock johnson wearing an anti-trump t-shirt is fake

Sources

San Andreas. Directed by Brad Peyton, New Line Cinema, Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, 2015.

WarnerBros.Com | San Andreas | Movies. https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/san-andreas. Accessed 13 Mar. 2023.

MacGuill, Dan. "Media Literacy: How to Spot T-Shirts Bearing Fabricated Messages." Snopes, 30 Mar. 2022, https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/03/30/t-shirt-fake-message/.

David Emery is a West Coast-based writer and editor with 25 years of experience fact-checking rumors, hoaxes, and contemporary legends.