Website realspotnews.info published May 8 a fabricated story that claims American actor Bill Pullman laughed at Vice President Leni Robredo for copying a speech from one of his films.
The story takes out of context a Feb. 22 tweet from an account that uses Bill Pullman’s name and photo (@Bill_Pullman_). The Twitter account posts a reaction to a fan-made trailer of a spinoff from the Star Wars series, saying “Creative and very well done, gave me a good laugh this morning.”
A screengrab of this tweet was superimposed on a photo uploaded May 7 by pro-Duterte blog Thinking Pinoy, to make it appear that Pullman reacted to Thinking Pinoy’s photo. The photo juxtaposes the similarity between Robredo’s speech that day defending Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and a speech by Pullman in the 1996 sci-fi film Independence Day.
Realspotnews.info published the story a day after Robredo took a firm stance in support of Sereno, whose appointment as Chief Justice was voided after the Supreme Court found merit in the quo warranto petition filed against her.
The website was created in December 2017. The story’s biggest traffic generators on social media are Sara Duterte Solid Warriors and TEAM DUTERTE FOR FEDERALISM, and could have reached more than 260,000 people.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
