A headline from an article on a satirical website saying Keanu Reeves declined to present an award to fellow actor Whoopi Goldberg has misled social media users.
Widely-shared posts on Facebook, opens new tab show images of the two celebrities alongside the text: “Keanu Reeves Refuses to Present Whoopi Goldberg’s Lifetime Achievement Award: ‘She’s Not a Good Person’,” drawing comments such as, “Good for him ! Excellent judge of character,” and “Good move Keanu!”

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Reuters Image

Reuters Image
However, that headline first appeared in a satirical article on the Dunning-Kruger Times, opens new tab website, which describes itself, opens new tab as part of “America’s Last Line Of Defense’s (ALLOD) network of parody, satire and tomfoolery.” America’s Last Line Of Defense shared a link to the article, opens new tab with the same images on Facebook on Jan. 24.
Some users sharing the false claim linked to similar articles on websites that repeated the original headline, such as today48.com, opens new tab.

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The original satirical article described a nonexistent award, the “Lifetime Achievement award by the TV Production Committee,” as the one Reeves, as well as other celebrities, had refused to present.

In an email, Christopher Blair, who creates the articles seen on the Dunning-Kruger Times site, said, “Everything posted on any website or Facebook page affiliated with ALLOD is intended as satire. There is no ‘source.’ We deal in fictional confirmation bias.”
Keanu Reeves refuses to present Whoopi Goldberg with…

Russia planned to assassinate the chief executive of German arms-maker Rheinmetall and the U.S. and Germany had foiled their plot.

The website’s “About Us” page, opens new tab also includes a disclaimer saying that it publishes fictional content.
Representatives for Reeves and Goldberg did not immediately respond requests for comment.
Reuters has previously addressed satirical articles referencing Goldberg that stemmed from Dunning-Kruger Times.

VERDICT

Satire. The story that Keanu Reeves declined to present Whoopi Goldberg with an award comes from a satirical website.