A headline from a satirical website suggesting that American actor Denzel Washington refused to work with Disney because the company was “woke” has been shared as authentic news on social media.

A spokesperson for the actor said in an email that the reports are “not true.”

The image with the headline “Denzel Washington Refuses To Work For Disney ‘They’re A Woke Company’,” was posted on social media, opens new tab along with captions by users sharing it as real news, including “Denzel Washington is a smart man. Disney is trash now. I hate everything they stand for,” and “Thank You Denzel.”

Reuters Image
The image circulated following an April 27 post, opens new tab by The Patriots Network Facebook page, whose logo also appears in the top-left corner of the image. The page describes itself as “a Network of Satire and Parody affiliated with SpacexMania.com.”
On Aug. 30, 2023, SpaceXMania posted an article, opens new tab with similar images and headlined “Breaking: Denzel Washington Declines Disney’s $50 Million Project, ‘They’re Too Woke’,” which was tagged as satire.

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The website’s “About Us” page, opens new tab says it produces the “freshest fake news, some sassy analysis, and a good dose of satire, all rolled into one crazy concoction that orbits around Elon Musk and everything that’s lighting up the viral/trending charts.”
A similar March 2023 headline, opens new tab, “Denzel Washington Refuses To Work for Disney’s ‘Woke Cinematic Universe’” was published by another satirical website, opens new tab, The Dunning-Kruger Times.

There is no credible reporting, opens new tab that Washington ever made such statements.
Reuters has previously addressed false claims about celebrities declining collaborations citing “wokeness” as the reason.