Actor Ben Stiller, Good Will Ambassador for the UN High Commission for Refugees, testified earlier … [+]
Actor and comedian Ben Stiller left charges Thursday that he was paid millions of dollars in front of US taxpayers to travel to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky as part of a publicity stunt in 2022. The actor, who visited the war – The torn country shortly after Russia began its unproven occupation, opposed claims that the trip was funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Stiller was one of several celebrities who appeared in a video that gave birth to a false news filigree, claiming that USAID paid them on the journey to Ukraine. Faux News story, widely divided through social media, also claimed that Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn, Jean Claude Van Dam and Orlando Bloom paid millions of dollars to increase Zelensky’s popularity.
“These are lies coming from Russian media. I fully self-financed my humanitarian journey to Ukraine. There were no funds from USAID and of course no payment of any kind. [100] False percent, “wrote Stiller (@bensiller) in response to X, social media platform previously known as Twitter.
Although readers on X have added that from the context that “the video has been fabricated to appear as if it came from Enews, but there is no evidence that Enews has ever reported this”, Faux footage has been reformulated and viewed millions of times. like Vanity Reported, among those who shared the video were Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. And Sidney Powell, former President Donald Trump’s lawyer.
Another disinformation campaign on social media
As with past disinformation campaigns seen on social media, there is a grain of truth in the video. Stiller made the aforementioned journey to Ukraine in June 2022, serving as an ambassador of good will to mark World Refugee Day, while Jolie, Penn, Van Damme and Bloom all trips to Ukraine and/or met Zelensky .
There is no evidence that USAID or any other American group was paid celebrities.
The time to release the video is also evident as it came just days after the Trump administration announced plans to significantly regulate the government agency that offers international civil aid.
“This has taken the general approach to conspiracy theories,” said Dr. Dan Ariely, professor of psychology and behavior economy at the university.
Ariely explained that suspicious claims come while USAID is in the news, and has been criticized by the new administration – as well as Musk – to be useless at its expenses.
“The basis is that the government is doing things you may not like,” Ariely added. “Creating this story was created to make people upset.”
From Russia with love?
The origin of the video is not known, but the past claims that high -ranking Ukrainian military personnel without their homes left destroyed in the tragic fires of last month, which President Zelensky bought Adolf Hitler’s car, and that wife Zelensky engaged in extravagant by spending sprees.
“It is a fake rumor and it is senseless to suggest that travels were paid by USAID,” Dr. said Matthew Schmidt, Professor of National Security and Political Science at the University of New Haven.
“Ben Stiller has publicly reputed it, and you can control this at Usaspendind.gov to see that no government money was paid to fund travel. So it is there,” Schmidt added.
As for the origin of the video and her claims, Schmidt also suggested that there are Russian fingerprints throughout it.
“Russia puts this misinformation there because, at this point, it undermines the credibility of the United States Government, but also plays for President Donald Trump’s narrative for the types of things for which USAID money was spent instead of Notes the truth, “Schmidt warned.
The reality is that most USAID money goes to help those in need, and this includes refugees in war-torn countries. The money spent is also a small part of the general federal budget.
USAID and national security
Although Musk has described USAID as a “criminal organization”, and its other critics have called its “vain costs”, the fact remains to serve an important role in national security.
As NBC News reported, USAID “founded by then President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as an independent agency”, and “USAID’s goal was both: to oppose Soviet influence during the Cold War and lead various assistance Foreigners programs, based on the idea that US security was related to stability and economic advances in other nations. “
While USAID may seem to be dealing with America’s first mantra, it actually supports it, Schmidt said.
“USAID efforts offer regional security and support our national security, because these different unstable situations eventually flourish in geopolitical crises,” Schmidt explained.
It would therefore make sense that foreign actors in Moscow, Tehran, Beijing and elsewhere could get on social media to promote USAID’s dissatisfaction.
“This is the model of Russian war disinformation by going back to Trump’s first administration and even earlier,” Schmidt warned. “These kinds of efforts support the Russian narrative that Ukraine is full of corrupt officials, supported by corrupt USAID officials, celebrities as Ben Stiller, etc.