On Aug. 4, 2023, a purported celebrity news YouTube channel known as Just In (@JustInCeleb) published a new video that claimed "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg had lost a $40 million lawsuit brought by country music singer Jason Aldean. The title read, "3 MINUTES AGO: Whoopi Goldberg PANICS After LOSING Everything After Lawsuit."
By Aug. 7, the video had been viewed nearly 1 million times.
The video was narrated by a voice that had been generated by artificial intelligence (AI), a fact that few if any of the thousands of commenters appeared to have mentioned.
The video's fake narrator began as follows:
NARRATOR: It appears Whoopi Goldberg has gotten herself into another controversy, and this time it seems like she might get sued for a lot of money, and she might end up losing everything she worked so hard for. Let's get into how Whoopi got herself into this panicky situation. So, recently country singer Jason Aldean has been making headlines amidst "Try That in a Small Town" song controversy, and this news got onto 'The View' where Goldberg and her fellow hosts slammed him.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: "So, country singer Jason Aldean is getting backlash for the video of his song, "Not in a Small Town."
NARRATOR: Whoopi claimed that the message the song was trying to put forward was questionable. She said on "The View," "You just have to realize that when you make it about Black Lives Matter, 'Well, are you talking about Black people? What are you talking about here?" Her other co-hosts, Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin, relentless slammed the song and called it "deplorable" and "annoying," and this got a lot of backlash from the fans.
It's true that Goldberg had made previously remarks on "The View" about Aldean's music video for "Try That in a Small Town," as well as the Black Lives Matter movement. It was also true that co-host Joy Behar had called the song both "deplorable" and "annoying," as evidenced by a clip that was posted to the TV show's official YouTube channel.
However, the proof cited by the video in order to support its "Whoopi Goldberg PANICS" title came from a satirical article.
In other words, no, Goldberg hadn't panicked "after losing everything," because there was no such lawsuit with Aldean to begin with.
Further, a content warning in the description under the video read as follows: "Disclaimer: Content might be gossip, rumors, exaggerated or indirectly besides the truth. Viewer advised to do own research before forming their opinion. Content might be opinionated."
The satirical article mentioned in the video came from the Dunning-Kruger Times website. It was published on July 24.
The headline of the story read, "Jason Aldean Files Defamation Suit Against Whoopi and The View: 'I'm No Racist'":
Jason Aldean says he's "taking the advice of counsel" and filing a $40 million defamation suit against Whoopi, Sunny, Joy, and the rest of the hosts of ABC's "The View."
The suit, filed in the 65th District Court of Writs and Motions, seeks damages from both the show itself as well as the individuals who called Aldean "racist."
ABC responded by saying they had no idea that the show's hosts would be so brutal but held firm that the show is "protected 1st Amendment free speech." What ABC failed to remember is that free speech doesn't save Whoopi from screaming "fire" in a crowded theater.
The Dunning-Kruger Times is part of the America's Last Line of Defense network of satirical websites. We've received countless inquiries from readers in past years to fact-check their stories, as the content in their articles was often believed to be real news by users on Facebook, Twitter, and Truth Social, to name a few.
The "About Us" page on the Times' website was written by its creators to specify that it publishes "parody, satire, and tomfoolery."
As for the Just In YouTube channel, a Facebook page bearing the same name and logo appeared to indicate that it may be managed from Indonesia. We previously reported about other false rumors promoted by Just In that involved Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey and Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor.
Note: The Associated Press and Lead Stories also previously reported about the Dunning-Kruger Times article before the Just In YouTube video was released.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.