Purported Shapiro post about Tracy Chapman, Luke Combs Grammy duet is fabricated | Fact check

Ben Shapiro speaks to the audience about the Israel-Hamas war wearing a yamaka at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Gainesville, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. The event was hosted by the University of Florida’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter.

The claim: Ben Shapiro posted that Grammys forced viewers to watch ‘black queer female’ perform Luke Combs’ song  

A Feb. 7 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes an image of a purported statement from conservative commentator Ben Shapiro alongside a photo of singer Tracy Chapman at the 2024 Grammy Awards.

“Of course the Grammy cultural Marxists had to force us to watch some black queer female perform and steal the spotlight from Luke Comb’s (sic) popular new country music song,” reads the supposed post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The woke war on straight white male success continues.”

Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

It received more than 300 shares in two days. Other versions of the claim spread widely on Facebook, Instagram and X.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Our rating: Altered

The image is fabricated. No such post appears on Shapiro’s X account, and his actual posts on the platform indicate the supposed statement is not legitimate.

Shapiro post included description of ‘unforgettable’ performance, not criticism for including Chapman

Chapman and Combs performed a duet of “Fast Car,” Chapman’s hit song from 1988, at the Feb. 4 awards ceremony. Combs’ country version of the song was released to much acclaim in 2023.

Though Shapiro did reference the performance on social media, there is no post matching the one presented in the Facebook post.

He responded to an X post presenting the statement as legitimate with a tongue-in-cheek response, attributing a fabricated quote to Julius Caesar: “Don’t believe in the veracity of every tweet you see on X.”

Shapiro later reposted a Feb. 7 statement from a BBC Verify reporter saying the image was fake and that Shapiro “never posted this.”

Shapiro’s actual posts about the performance were not disparaging.

Shapiro, editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, posted a link to an article from the site about the upcoming duet on Feb. 2 and posted a link to an article describing the performance as “unforgettable” on Feb. 6.

Fact check: Trump post on getting lawyer with ‘more practical experience’ is a fabrication

USA TODAY has debunked an array of falsehoods about Shapiro, including a claim that he received about $21,000 in federal loan forgiveness and other fabricated images of social media posts about Columbus Day and childhood cupcakes.

USA TODAY reached out to several users who shared the post for comment. One Facebook user said the post was meant to be perceived as satirical.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Purported Shapiro post about Tracy Chapman, Luke Combs Grammy duet is fabricated | Fact check