Denzel Washington's Rep Says Quote Praising Trump Shared on Truth Social Is Fake

President Donald Trump shared a fabricated quote attributed to actor Denzel Washington on his Truth Social account, and Washington's representative says it is not real. Alan Nierob, president of PMK Entertainment, told The Washington Post the quote was not real and that he had no idea where it came from.

What the Post Showed

The post was a screenshot from an X account called Red Eagle Updates. It showed Washington's photo beside a quote saying he had never met anyone braver or smarter than Trump and was a proud, steadfast supporter, and it asked readers whether they agreed. CNN, The Washington Post and Raw Story report that Trump shared it on Monday morning, while Newsweek reports it was a Sunday evening post.

CNN’s fact check says the image Trump shared was a screenshot of a post the Red Eagle Updates account had made on Saturday, and that the original post opened with the word “BOOM” before presenting the quote. Mediaite reports that Trump shared the item during a Columbus Day reposting spree on Truth Social. TheWrap reports that the screenshot described Trump as a great friend, and Newsweek notes that the quote opens with Washington supposedly saying he has worked with a lot of people in his life. By Monday afternoon, more than 3,000 users had reshared the post, according to The Washington Post as cited by the Black Information Network.

The Representative’s Response

Nierob replied by email to the Post later on Monday, writing “Not real” and adding that he had no idea where it came from, according to TheWrap. TheWrap also reports that Nierob told the Post he did not know whether the actor had ever met the president. Nierob’s statement did not establish who first created the wording or why it was attributed to Washington, TheGrio noted.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment from the Post or TheWrap, according to those outlets. Newsweek reports that Trump later told NBC News that someone else had put the post up.

Fact-Checkers Got There First

Snopes had rated the quote an incorrect attribution on October 10, finding no credible reporting that Washington said it. The outlet found the identical wording has also been falsely attributed to Mick Jagger and Matthew McConaughey. The Black Information Network reports that Snopes also found the quote had been circulating online for at least several months before Trump shared it. AFP’s fact-check desk later documented the post as well, according to the German fact-checking site Mimikama, which rated the attribution false.

Not the First Time a Washington Endorsement Has Been Invented

False claims that Washington supports Trump have circulated for years. In 2016, a fabricated report claimed he had endorsed Trump, and Washington's publicist at the time called the story a complete fabrication, according to Mediaite. Nierob called that story a 100 percent complete fabrication in comments to the BBC, and the BBC’s November 2016 report on the fake Facebook story was later cited by FactCheck.org.

FactCheck.org revisited similar claims in later years. In 2018 it addressed a false post claiming Washington had grown tired of the Democratic Party and now backed Trump, and Nierob responded in a 2021 email that, without confirming the actor’s political affiliation, the post was a complete fabrication. Mediaite adds that Washington rarely talks politics and has not endorsed Trump in any of his three White House campaigns.

A Second Misattributed Quote This Year

CNN’s Daniel Dale noted that the Washington item is not the only fake quote Trump has shared recently. Earlier this year, according to CNN, Trump posted a fabricated quote attacking former President Barack Obama that a pro-Trump commentator had wrongly attributed to Republican Sen. John Kennedy. CNN described the Washington post as another example of a false quote reaching the president’s account.

Reaction on Truth Social

Atlanta Black Star reports that the image drew more than 14,000 likes on Truth Social, and that some users replying to the post said the quote was fake and asked why it had not been checked before it was shared. The Washington Post’s count of more than 3,000 reshares by Monday afternoon, cited by the Black Information Network, gives a separate measure of how far the post traveled that day.

How the Story Was Reported

The Washington Post’s report was written by Emily Kennard, according to TheGrio, and it carried the representative’s denial by email. CNN’s fact check was written by Daniel Dale, and outlets in Canada and Ghana ran the CNN piece. TheWrap, Newsweek, Mediaite, Raw Story and the Black Information Network followed with their own accounts. Newsweek and TheWrap both said they contacted the White House for comment, and TheWrap noted that no immediate response had arrived when it published.

Reports differ slightly on the timing of the original post and of Trump’s share. Newsweek describes a Sunday evening post, CNN and the Post place the share on Monday morning, and CNN adds that the Red Eagle Updates post it captured was made on Saturday. The date of the Snopes rating, October 10, is consistent across reports that mention it.