Fact Check: Did Patti LaBelle fight Karoline Leavitt on TV?
WASHINGTON, DC: Karoline Leavitt made history at the beginning of 2025 by becoming the youngest White House Press Secretary at 27. Since then, she has made headlines for her personality and for defending President Donald Trump during White House press conferences.
Recently, a rumor circulated online claiming that Karoline Leavitt and singer Patti LaBelle fought on live TV. But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.
Claim: Patti LaBelle fought Karoline Leavitt on TV
In September, a rumor circulated online claiming that Karoline Leavitt and singer Patti LaBelle had fought on live TV.
A Facebook post claimed that the fight started after the White House Press Secretary called LaBelle "just a singer".
As per the post, in response, LaBelle put "her hands on the table [and] delivered seven words" that "froze the entire studio".
The post read, "'SHE’S JUST A SINGER.' That’s what Karoline Leavitt said — seconds before the studio turned into a televised earthquake, and Patti LaBelle answered with a single line that left her frozen on live TV. At first, Patti said nothing. She tilted her head. Smiled softly. Waited."
"But when Karoline kept going… everything shifted. Patti leaned forward. Placed her hands on the table. And delivered seven words—no more, no less," the post further read.
It also added, "The cameras kept rolling. But the director didn’t dare whisper 'continue'. Someone backstage exhaled. The audience held its breath. Karoline? Not a sound. Just one blink. And then… silence. The woman labeled 'just another singer' had just done something no one else had pulled off in ten years of live television: She froze the entire studio."
False: No credible evidence to back the claim
The claims made in the online rumor are false, as there is no credible evidence to prove that Karoline Leavitt and singer Patti LaBelle fought on live TV, Snopes reported.
The rumor originated from Facebook posts trying to get users to click on links to supposedly tell the "full story".
However, in reality, those links were pages on advertisement-filled websites that earned profit with each click, despite the authenticity of the content.
Moreover, days earlier, the Facebook account also posted a different version of the story where LaBelle called Leavitt a "privilege puppet".
Interestingly, both versions of the story were fiction.
A search on search engines, such as Google, Google News, DuckDuckGo, and Bing, revealed no reports of a fight between the two and no video clips of this supposed fight.
Notably, both articles read like short fictional stories and not like news articles.
The fact-checking outlet also ran the text of both stories through detectors of AI-generated content, and it showed that there was a high chance that AI had generated parts of the article.
Similar rumor about Karoline Leavitt circulated earlier
In April 2025, a rumor circulated online claiming that Karoline Leavitt had a heated debate with Stephen Colbert on his late-night talk show.
The claim mainly featured in YouTube videos, and the first clip was posted on February 24, 2025, according to Snopes.
Notably, a video, posted on April 18, was titled, "Karoline Leavitt Fires Back on Stephen Colbert's Show After a Shocking Accusation."
Similarly, other videos were titled "Karoline Leavitt SHUTS DOWN Stephen Colbert After His Insane On-Air Attack" and "Karoline Leavitt Just HUMILIATED Stephen Colbert and Stephen ERUPTS!"
However, the claims made in the online rumor are false, as a White House spokesperson said a video about Karoline Leavitt's appearance on 'The Late Show', posted on February 24, was "fake".
Moreover, Leavitt's name did not appear on guest lists published ahead of Colbert's shows, and there were no videos of her appearing on the show.
