Did Stevie Nicks, Tom Brady, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Elon Musk, or dozens of other entertainers, sports stars, or media figures defend Donald Trump from accusations he's authoritarian and trying to cancel elections? No, that's not true: The identical story told about at least 41 celebrities who purportedly said "This disorder is being used to scare Americans. To convince them the country is broken beyond repair." The Facebook posts are from a spam factory based in Vietnam that uses artificial tools to publish fake articles promoted by Facebook pages also managed from Vietnam.
One example is a post (archived here) making the claim about Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks published in the SoundCove Facebook page on January 22, 2026. The text opened:
"ARE YOU REALLY NOT SEEING WHAT'S HAPPENING, OR ARE YOU JUST PRETENDING NOT TO?" Stevie Nicks said firmly, her voice calm but loaded with force.
The studio hesitated. Cameras kept rolling. Nicks leaned forward, eyes locked on the panel.
"Let me be clear," she continued. "This chaos you keep talking about isn't spontaneous. It's being amplified. Weaponized. Used for political gain."
A panelist tried to jump in, but Nicks raised her hand.
"No--look at the facts. When streets are allowed to spiral out of control, when police are restrained, when the rule of law is weakened, ask yourself one question: who benefits?"
She paused, then answered it herself.
"Not Donald Trump."
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Jan 29 19:55:38 2026 UTC)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
The post continued:
"This disorder is being used to scare Americans. To convince them the country is broken beyond repair. And then--conveniently--to blame the one man who keeps saying the same thing: law and order matters."
Someone muttered, "That sounds authoritarian."
Nicks snapped back immediately.
"No. Enforcing the law is not authoritarian. Securing borders is not authoritarian. Protecting citizens from violence is not the end of democracy--it's the foundation of it."
The camera zoomed in.
"The real game here," Stevie Nicks said, voice sharpening, "is convincing Americans that demanding order is dangerous, while celebrating chaos as progress."
She spoke slowly, deliberately.
"Donald Trump isn't trying to cancel elections. He's trying to defend the voices that the political and media elites ignore--the people who just want a safe country and a fair system."
Nicks finished, staring straight into the lens.
"America doesn't need more fear-driven narratives. It doesn't need apocalyptic monologues. It needs truth, accountability, and leaders who aren't afraid to say that order is not the enemy of freedom."
The room fell quiet--not from shock, but because the message had been delivered plainly.
A Google search (archived here) for "ARE YOU REALLY NOT SEEING WHAT'S HAPPENING, OR ARE YOU JUST PRETENDING NOT TO?" found no media reporting of Nicks or anyone making that statement. It only returned examples of the fake posts we are fact checking.
A Facebook search (archived here) found at least 41 celebrities named in the identical posts, including:
- Erykah Badu
- Andrea Bocelli
- Tom Brady
- Stephon Castle
- Curt Cignetti
- Caitlin Clark
- Neil Diamond
- Ronnie Dunn
- Bob Dylan
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Joe Flacco
- Myles Garrett
- Vince Gill
- Josh Groban
- Jennifer Hudson
- Jason Kelce
- Lane Kiffin
- Brandon Lake
- Miranda Lambert
- Madonna
- Dave Mustaine
- Elon Musk
- Willie Nelson
- Stevie Nicks
- Donny Osmond
- Jimmy Page
- Brad Paisley
- Guy Penrod
- Keanu Reeves
- Kid Rock
- Nick Saban
- Adam Sandler
- Bill Self
- Blake Shelton
- Kalani Sitake
- Barbra Streisand
- Tim Tebow
- Billy Bob Thornton
- Dick Van Dyke
- Jesse Watters
- CeCe Winans
- Prince William
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshots of Facebook)
All of these posts share another key characteristic: they are all administered from Vietnam. This is the Meta transparency data for the Lil Chase Facebook page, which is where we found the post (archived here) making the claim about Adam Sandler:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
Facebook users can check the "about" section on any page's ad library to find the countries where the managers are located.
Each post includes a link to a website that hosts a nearly identical fake article naming that celebrity. The Stevie Nicks article (archived here) is headlined "'Order is Not the Enemy of Freedom"': Stevie Nicks Stuns Hollywood with Passionate Defense of Donald Trump on Live TV."
The "terms and conditions" page (archived here) for the website acknowledges it is based in Vietnam.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of livextop.com)
This is part of an operation that Lead Stories and other fact checkers have identified as a major source of AI-generated false stories we call Viet Spam. You can see recent reporting and fact checks related to Vietnam-based spam operations here.
A deeper dive into this can be found in our article Prebunk: Beware Of Fake Fan Pages Spreading False Stories About Your Favorite Celebrities -- How To Spot 'Viet Spam'.
