{"id":12252,"date":"2026-02-20T12:25:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=12252"},"modified":"2026-02-28T12:29:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:29:02","slug":"an-ai-generated-speech-attributed-to-rowan-atkinson-is-circulating-on-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/20\/an-ai-generated-speech-attributed-to-rowan-atkinson-is-circulating-on-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"An AI-Generated Speech Attributed to Rowan Atkinson Is Circulating on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Original article<\/a>\u00a0(in Croatian) was published on 19\/2\/2026; Author: Ana Sori\u0107<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A speech attributed to well-known British actor Rowan Atkinson is part of a broader campaign of AI-generated fake content commonly referred to as \u201cVietnamese spam.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disinformation is circulating<\/a> on Facebook in the form of a fabricated statement falsely attributed to various celebrities. The content typically features a famous person announcing that they will share their wealth and help others financially. In this particular case, shared by a private Facebook user, Rowan Atkinson<\/strong> allegedly promises to donate 160 million U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The status reads in full:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cRowan Atkinson, legenda komedije, televizije i filma, iznenadio je \u010dak i najbogatije i najmo\u0107nije osobe svijeta \u2013 ne samo svojim rije\u010dima, nego i odlu\u010dnim djelovanjem. Na glamuroznom gala doga\u0111aju u Los Angelesu 20. prosinca, na kojem su prisustvovali filmski magnati, tehnolo\u0161ki milijarderi i najve\u0107e hollywoodske zvijezde, Rowan Atkinson stupio je na pozornicu kako bi preuzeo nagradu za \u017eivotno djelo. Me\u0111utim, umjesto uobi\u010dajene zahvalne govore, odlu\u010dio je iskoristiti trenutak istine \u2013 iskreno, odva\u017eno i duboko humano. Nije zahvalio Akademiji niti se prisjetio likova Mr. Bean, Blackadder ili desetlje\u0107a globalnog smijeha. Umjesto toga, Atkinson je pogledao publiku punu bogatstva i utjecaja i izjavio:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSjedimo ovdje, okru\u017eeni dijamantima i umjetni\u010dkim blistavostima, dok se svijet oko nas raspada. Ako va\u0161 glas mo\u017ee premjestiti milijune, a vi ga ne koristite za one koji nemaju glas, ne \u010dinite promjenu \u2013 samo stvarate buku.\u201d Ti\u0161ina se pro\u0161irila dvoranom. Filmski menad\u017eeri i pozvani gosti bili su odu\u0161evljeni snagom njegovih rije\u010di. Neustra\u0161iv, nastavlja: \u201cAko imate vi\u0161e nego \u0161to vam treba, to vi\u0161e nije samo va\u0161e. Va\u0161a je odgovornost pomo\u0107i onima koji su ispod vas.\u201d I nije to ostalo samo na rije\u010dima. Istog dana Atkinson je objavio da \u0107e sve profite od svojih arhiviranih djela i budu\u0107ih kreativnih projekata \u2013 procijenjenih na 160 milijuna ameri\u010dkih dolara \u2013 biti donirani za projekte vezane uz dje\u010dje zdravlje, programe za za\u0161titu klime i umjetni\u010dko obrazovanje marginalizirane mlade\u017ei. Njegova poruka bila je nedvosmislena: \u201enaslje\u0111e se ne stvara zaslugama, ve\u0107 davanjem.\u201d U vremenu kada se poznatosti \u010desto smatraju praznim simbolima, Rowan Atkinson podsjetio je svijet da pravi utjecaj ne proizlazi iz pljeska, ve\u0107 iz ubla\u017eavanja patnje drugih.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Same Scam, Different Celebrities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact-checking outlet Lead Stories found<\/a> that the same or nearly identical speech has been attributed to numerous other public figures, including Barbra Streisand<\/strong>, Jon Bon Jovi<\/strong>, Andrea Bocelli<\/strong> and Stevie Nicks<\/strong>, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead Stories identified<\/a> the quote as part of a broader trend of AI-generated fake news originating from Vietnam. The outlet has published more than 50 articles<\/a> about this type of scam, referring to it as \u201cVietnamese spam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British actor best known for his roles in Blackadder and Mr. Bean did not deliver the speech attributed to him in the Facebook post. An almost identical speech attributed to other celebrities has not been published by any credible media outlet and appears only on obscure websites and social media pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Google search of key excerpts from the quote yields no reports from reputable news sources. If such a speech had actually been delivered at a high-profile gala event, it would have been widely covered by entertainment and show business media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead Stories also searched Facebook<\/a> using portions of the quote and found numerous nearly identical posts attributed to different celebrities, including Celine Dion<\/strong>, Stevie Nicks<\/strong>, Morgan Freeman<\/strong>, Kevin Costner<\/strong>, Bob Dylan<\/strong> and violinist Itzhak Perlman<\/strong>, among many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vietnam Identified as a Major Source of Scam Pages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spanish fact-checking organisation Maldita.es published a large-scale investigation<\/a>, conducted in collaboration with numerous international fact-checking organisations including Faktograf<\/a>, identifying similar scam patterns worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation focused on Facebook pages falsely impersonating public transport providers and offering tickets at unrealistically low prices. In a report published in June 2025, Maldita concluded that Vietnam was the most frequent source location for such fraudulent Facebook pages, identifying fake advertisements in 746 cities across 60 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meta confirmed that more than half of the administrators of those pages were located in Vietnam, while IP addresses were linked to a Russian service provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, Rowan Atkinson did not receive a lifetime achievement award in Los Angeles in December, nor did he deliver a speech calling on celebrities to share their wealth and pledging to donate approximately 160 million U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research shows that this is an AI-generated fake story that has been circulating for months, repeatedly republished with different celebrities cast in the leading role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article\u00a0(in Croatian) was published on 19\/2\/2026; Author: Ana Sori\u0107 A speech attributed to well-known British actor Rowan Atkinson is part of a broader campaign of AI-generated fake content commonly referred to as \u201cVietnamese spam.\u201d Disinformation is circulating on Facebook in the form of a fabricated statement falsely attributed to various celebrities. The content typically […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-checks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12252"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12259,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12252\/revisions\/12259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}