Fact check: Actor and comedian Tim Allen did not write viral conservative statement

Devon Link, USA TODAY
·4 min read

The claim: Actor and comedian Tim Allen wrote a viral conservative statement

A statement arguing a list of conservative views attributed to “Tim Allen” has recently resurfaced on Facebook.

“Tim Allen is credited with writing this ... Here are some interesting points to think about prior to 2020, especially to my friends on the fence,” the post begins. “We are one election away from open borders, socialism, gun confiscation, and full-term abortion nationally. We are fighting evil,” it also says.

The statement, which argues conservative stances on immigration, voter ID laws and criticizes Democratic leaders, accompanies the actor's photo and encourages others to copy, paste and share. The post also makes several false claims about the “Obamacare” website, Chelsea Clinton’s NBC salary and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal.”

From the archives: Tim Allen on 'Last Man Standing's rare conservative perspective (and why no Trump)

Attributed to the wrong Tim Allen

A jewelry technician from Virginia also named Tim Allen posted an identical statement Aug. 25, 2019. Allen from Virginia did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.

"This statement was not written by my client, the actor Tim Allen," Marleah Leslie, publicist for the "Last Man Standing" and "Home Improvement" actor, told USA TODAY Wednesday.

The viral statement also expresses adamant disapproval for 2016 presidential candidate Hilary Clinton that the actor has not shared in the past.

“I wake up every day and I am grateful that Hillary Clinton is not the president of the United States of America,” the post reads.

“I’ve met the Clintons and I think she’s a capable and wonderful choice,” Allen told Fox Business at President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017. “I was more concerned about the people she brought with her.”

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Actor Tim Allen’s politics

Allen is known for his personal and on-screen conservative politics. He's famously called his “Last Man Standing” character “Archie Bunker but college educated.”

In the sitcom, Allen plays a conservative husband and father to three daughters. Many interviewers have asked Allen whether he shared his politically incorrect character’s views.

“My politics are really irrelevant,” Allen told Entertainment Weekly in 2018.

Allen has commented on Hollywood’s dominant liberal and politically correct nature.

“If you don’t believe what everybody believes, this is like '30s Germany,” Allen joked on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in March 2017. “I’m not ignorant, but sometimes I play it.”

Allen endorsed and voiced a campaign ad for Republican presidential candidate John Kasich in 2016.

Allen was one of the few Hollywood stars to attend Trump’s inauguration.

“At one point, Trump said things that made sense to me,” Allen told Fox Business. “At some points, the Democrats didn’t, and that’s it.”

Allen has described his fiscally conservative values in several interviews, but has not publicly endorsed Trump.

“I’m just watching the theater of it and trying to keep my personal opinions out of it,” Allen told Entertainment Weekly when asked whether he supported Trump. “My political party is that I’ve never liked taxes, period, so whatever that means.”

Our rating: False

We rate the claim that actor and comedian Tim Allen wrote a viral conservative statement FALSE because it is not supported by our research. The statement was posted by another man named Tim Allen and misattributed to the well-known actor.

The same misattributed statement was posted and debunked by FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, Truth or Fiction and Snopes in September.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Actor Tim Allen did not write viral conservative statement