Did Karoline Leavitt dismiss various celebrities, saying "complex social policy" was "out of their league" and dismissing them as just a singer, musician, actor or comedian? No, that's not true: The claim about a televised confrontation in a TV studio was made about at least 26 different people in posts published on dozens of fake Facebook fan pages aimed at American and European audiences, but produced from Vietnam. It's part of a clickbait operation that uses AI tools described by some fact checkers as "Vietspam".
One example of such a post (archived here) appeared on Facebook on January 23, 2026 on a page named "Light Through Laughter" and it read:
"SHE'S JUST A COMEDIAN."
That's what Karoline Leavitt said--seconds before the studio turned into a televised earthquake, and Jon Stewart answered with a single line that left her frozen on live TV.
She had dismissed Stewart's concerns about the disconnect between the political elite and the working class with a condescending wave of her hand.
"Stick to comedy, Jon," she scoffed, already turning to the next camera. "Complex social policy is a bit out of your league. Stick to jokes and punchlines. Leave the thinking to us."
The audience grew quiet. The panel smirked. They expected the legendary New Yorker to crack a self-deprecating joke or laugh it off like he always does.
They were wrong.
The smile vanished from Jon's face. The charm disappeared instantly. He didn't raise his voice, but he leaned forward, his gaze steady and commanding, looking at Leavitt with the cold seriousness of someone who has spent a lifetime observing power up close--on stage and beyond.
"Karoline," Jon said, his tone calm yet piercing, cutting through the noise like a spotlight. "I might tell jokes for a living and I might make people laugh for a living, but don't mistake that for being blind. You look at this country from a podium in Washington and see talking points to manipulate; I look at it from the ground level and see families struggling to survive the mess people like you ignore."
The smirk vanished from Leavitt's face instantly. The studio fell into a stunned silence.
"Do not mistake comedy for ignorance," he continued, his voice low and deliberate. "Comedy is about truth. It's about clarity, empathy, and saying the thing everyone else is too afraid to say out loud. And right now, you and your platform are delivering a performance that the real world stopped applauding a long time ago."
For the first time in the broadcast's history, the official was rendered speechless--defeated not by a political debate, but by the raw, unfiltered reality of a man who refused to be talked down to.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Sat Jan 24 10:15:18 2026 UTC)
Apart from the fact that Jon Stewart is a man, there were no articles returned by a search on Google News for stories mentioning the phrases "Karoline Leavitt" "Jon Stewart" "She's just a comedian" (archived here).
The Facebook page "Light Through Laughter" (archived here) which was used to promote the story had a page transparency tab (archived here) indicating it was run by several people from Vietnam:
(Image source: screenshot of the page transparency tab of the "Light Through Laughter" page on Facebook.)
The Vietnam connection is significant, since fact-checkers, including Lead Stories, have identified a major source of AI-generated false stories coming from a single operation based in that Southeast Asian country. You can see recent reporting and fact checks mentioning that country here.
A search on Facebook for posts with the words "Complex policy league leavitt smirk" (archived here) brought up dozens of results with almost exactly the same story but about different celebrities, athletes and politicians, accompanied by very similar images showing the celebrity in question next to photos of Leavitt. Lead Stories found posts involving:
- Comedian Jon Stewart
- Rockstar Jon Bon Jovi
- Singer Axl Rose
- Singer Jackson Browne
- Musician David Gilmour
- Singer Joan Baez
- Actor Dick Van Dyke
- Comedian Rowan Atkinson
- Metal Singer James Hetfield
- Rock Performer Gene Simsons (presumably meaning "Gene Simmons" from band "KISS")
- Musician Itzhak Perlman
- Golfer Tommy Fleetwood
- Singer Gretchen Wilson
- Actress Angelina Jolie
- Singer Mick Jagger
- Singer Patti LaBelle
- Singer Barbra Streisand
- Musician Kid Rock
- Hockey Kid Connor Bedard
- Singer Nick Carter
- Politician Pete Buttigieg
- Golfer Lexi Thompson
- Rocker David Draiman
- Singer P!nk
- Singer David Coverdale
- Singer Vince Gill
(Note: each person in the list is identified as they were in the story, for example "rockstar", "comedian", "singer"...)
(Image source: animation of Facebook search results for the phrase "Complex policy league leavitt smirk" .)
Lead Stories has published a primer -- or a prebunk -- on how to identify these kinds of fake posts exported from Vietnam. It's titled "Prebunk: Beware Of Fake Fan Pages Spreading False Stories About Your Favorite Celebrities -- How To Spot 'Viet Spam'"
