Social media users shared images online allegedly showing Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres wearing ankle monitors to claim that they are both under house arrest. It’s wrong.
Examples can be seen here & set = a.348809985537933 & type = 3 & theater and here & set = a.107334770246965 & type = 3 & theater.
The claims appear to be linked to QAnon’s conspiracy theory that powerful celebrities are part of a child sex trafficking ring (here).
DeGeneres’ photograph was taken from a clip on The Ellen Show, where she makes a video call to actress Courtney Cox (here). The photograph in the claim captures the moment at around 3:05 minutes. Her sweatpants are ruffled but there is no clear visual of an ankle monitor. Another recent video from DeGeneres clearly shows her ankles without a monitor (youtu.be/fES_YdzwqxI?t=120).
Winfrey’s photograph was taken from a clip of her cooking spaghetti carbonara (here). Throughout the video, there is no clear visual of an ankle monitor. Another recent live video of Winfrey shows her bare ankles (here).
Any arrests of Winfrey or DeGeneres would have been widely reported by news outlets.
Winfrey has previously responded to conspiracy allegations that she was arrested in a tweet, posted in March: “I just got a phone call saying my name is trending. And being hunted for something awful FAKE. This is not true. I was not searched or arrested. Just disinfecting and distancing yourself from the rest of the world. Stay safe everyone. “( here )
VERDICT
False. These articles are inspired by baseless conspiracy allegations. Videos of the two women do not show them wearing ankle monitors.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Learn more about our fact-checking work here.
