Fake story about Tucker Carlson and Spotify deal shared as fact | Fact check

BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Spotify offered Tucker Carlson $129 million to host his own podcast

An April 27 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims Spotify offered a former cable news personality a lucrative offer to start a podcast on its platform.

“Spotify Throws $129 Million at Tucker Carlson for Explosive Exclusive Podcast,” reads the post.

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Our rating: False

The claim originated on a satirical website, not a legitimate news source. Spotify has not indicated it made any such offer to Carlson, who has not announced his next career move.

Carlson posted a video days after Fox News departure, but did not specify next steps

Fox News announced on April 24 it was parting ways with Carlson, a longtime TV personality and host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight." The decision came in the wake of the network's decision to settle a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million.

There is no evidence that Spotify has made Carlson an offer following his departure from Fox News. The company has not made any announcements that suggest a deal with Carlson is underway. There are likewise no credible news reports about such a development.

In the days after his departure from Fox News, Carlson posted a video on Twitter that did not outline his next steps but vaguely suggested he would still be in the public eye.

“Where can you still find Americans saying true things?” he said. “There aren't many places left, but there are some, and that's enough. As long as you can hear the words, there is hope. See you soon.”

The claim first appeared in a May 4 article published by the Dunning-Kruger Times, a website that describes itself as a “subsidiary of the ‘America’s Last Line of Defense’ network of parody, satire and tomfoolery.”

There are also elements of the article itself that show its satirical origins. It claims, for example, that Spotify’s headquarters are in Wisconsin when the streaming company's website states its headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden. It goes on to identify Spotify’s CEO as Joe Barron, when its actual CEO is Daniel Ek.

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Tucker Carlson, host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," poses for photos in a Fox News Channel studio on March 2, 2017, in New York.
Tucker Carlson, host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," poses for photos in a Fox News Channel studio on March 2, 2017, in New York.

The Facebook post is an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where stories written as satire and presented that way originally are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here

USA TODAY has previously debunked claims that also originated on the Dunning-Kruger Times website, including that Budweiser was banned from Germany’s Oktoberfest and Anheuser-Busch’s CEO resigned in the wake of declining sales.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim of a deal between Spotify and Carlson.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tucker Carlson, Spotify deal claim started as satire | Fact check