'Fake' photos of Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey wearing ankle monitors under house arrest go viral
A number of photos showing celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey wearing ankle monitors to suggest that they are under house arrest are circulating on Facebook. However, none of the pictures are authentic.
The posts are a part of the QAnon conspiracy theory that many A-list celebs are a part of a child sex trafficking ring and that was why the celebrities were seen wearing ankle monitors. The host of 'The Ellen DeGeneres' show has been particularly targeted by the group as users claimed that the talk show host can be seen in her latest videos with an ankle bracelet.
According to Reuters, the photo in question was taken from a clip of her show where Ellen makes a video call to actress Courtney Cox. The picture was captured from a moment in the video at around the 3:05 minute mark. Her sweatpants appear ruffled although there is no clear view of an ankle monitor. Some of the users also claimed that a man standing behind DeGeneres in one of her recent videos is a police officer monitoring her arrest. This claim can also be debunked as longtime viewers of her show, who have continued to watch even as the talk show host was forced to record her videos from home amid the coronavirus lockdown, know that the one lurking outside her house and sometimes visible on her camera is her producer, Andy Lassner.
In a similar conspiracy post against Oprah, that has recently gone viral reads, "It's crazy many ppl don't know Oprah (Winfrey) on house arrest for Sex trafficking kids, as well as Ellen, Tom Hanks, Clinton's this list is long." The photograph of Winfrey which is being circulated online was taken from a clip of her cooking spaghetti carbonara. Again, throughout the video, there was no clear view of an ankle monitor.
Both these celebrities have been seen in recent videos with any form of ankle monitors on. Moreover, after a number of fact-checking articles emerged from reputed media outlets, many of the conspiracy posts have been tagged as "false information" by Facebook. Also, any such house arrests of celebrities like Ellen or Oprah would have made headlines across the world.
Oprah has previously taken to Twitter to deny the conspiracy claims that she was arrested. “Just got a phone call that my name is trending. And being trolled for some awful FAKE thing. It’s NOT TRUE. Haven’t been raided, or arrested. Just sanitizing and self-distancing with the rest of the world. Stay safe everybody," she said back in March in a tweet.
In 2018, a user named "Q," who claimed to be a government insider with high-security clearance went on the darknet and created a group of people who helped the entity spread right-wing conspiracy theories. These people called themselves 'QAnon.' QAnon followers are usually "Trump supporters who have a strong conspiracy mentality and are probably evangelical," Joseph Uscinski, a University of Miami professor who has been studying conspiracy theories for decades, told USA TODAY. "Q," claimed to have knowledge about a large child sex trafficking ring and alleged some politicians and celebrities wear ankle monitors and are under investigation.