Fact Check: Is Oprah Winfrey ending her talk show and moving to Italy because of Elon Musk?
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Ever since Donald Trump emerged victorious in the 2024 election, social media sites have been buzzing with news and rumors of several Hollywood personalities leaving the US for overseas.
Recently, a claim has been circulating online that veteran talk show host Oprah Winfrey plans to renounce the US for Italy because of tech billionaire Elon Musk.
While Winfrey’s fellow television queen Ellen DeGeneres has indeed left the country to move to the United Kingdom, the reality behind Oprah's flight should be examined.
Claim: Oprah Winfrey has plans to move to Italy after distaste regarding Elon Musk
Almost a month after Donald Trump took over the presidency along with making Tesla CEO Elon Musk the head of his administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), in mid-February, rumors emerged that Oprah Winfrey was leaving America for Italy.
Per Snopes, the claim gradually gained momentum in the social media sphere, with several users taking to Facebook to claim that Oprah has decided to move to the European nation after showing her distaste for living in the same country as Musk.
One such post read, "Oprah Winfrey Decides to End Legendary Show, Plans to Move to Italy: 'I CAN'T LIVE IN THE US FOR THE NEXT 4 YEARS AND BREATH THE SAME AIR AS ELON MUSK.'"
A similar post on Facebook received considerable engagement, garnering more than 1.7k likes and 580 comments. Another similar post received 157 likes and more than 80 comments.
Several Facebook users took to the comment section to urge the media personality to expedite the process of her relocation, while saying, "Please go and don't be like all the other liars that threaten to leave and never do."
Fact Check: Oprah Winfrey did not make any claim of leaving the US for Italy
While the rumors of Oprah Winfrey's heated words about Elon Musk have been doing the rounds of the internet for more than a week, the veracity of the claim must be examined. Thus, after fact-checking, the claim was found to be lacking concrete proof and has thus been branded as false.
To start with, multiple Google searches with the keywords, "Oprah Winfrey", "Elon Musk" and "Italy," did not give any satisfactory results where the veteran talk show host may have potentially made the claim.
Moreover, the claim says that Oprah has been planning to "end her legendary show," which is also categorically untrue, as her iconic talk show 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' had ended in 2011 after its glorious run of 25 years.
Though she has since then conducted several interviews, including the famous interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Oprah currently has no show on air.
Another aspect that casts doubt on the claim is the spelling of the word "breath." Oprah, being one of the most eloquent talk show hosts and a Tennessee State University communication graduate, can be expected not to use the wrong word in a sentence.
A social media user also pointed this out, as they wrote on Facebook, "All of you getting all upset - take a breath! First, she doesn't have a legendary show to end (news flash, that ended Many years ago). Second, she is smart enough to know how to spell Breathe with an "e" at the end. The post says 'breath'. Duh. You've been duped yet again."
Additionally, the fact-checking outlet Lead Stories did further digging and found that the article was sourced from a website called Batmalite Media. As per Lead Stories, Batmalite Media appeared to be a "content farm or spam network," while their articles showed chances of a higher percentage of artificial intelligence content.
Thus, based on the research, it can be well established that Oprah did not say she would leave the country for Italy after showing her dissent for Musk.
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.
