Did Rowan Atkinson, Barbra Streisand, Jon Bon Jovi and Stevie Nicks, and other celebrities all give the same speech to Mark Zuckerberg and a roomful of the rich and powerful on Dec. 20, 2025, saying "you are not creating change -- you are creating noise"? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories mentioning those and other names were published by websites and Facebook pages operated outside the U.S. There were no real news articles about Atkinson or the other celebrities scolding Zuckerberg and others at a gathering of the rich and famous.
The Atkinson version of the copy-paste story appeared in a Feb. 5, 2026 Facebook post (archived here) on the Movie Verse page under the title "BREAKING NEWS". It opened:
Rowan Atkinson, a legendary icon of comedy and cinema, has left even the world's richest and most powerful figures stunned--not just with his words, but with decisive action.
At a glamorous red-carpet gala in Los Angeles on December 20, attended by film moguls, tech billionaires, and Hollywood's most elite stars, Rowan Atkinson took the stage to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. But instead of offering a conventional acceptance speech, he chose a moment of truth--direct, fearless, and deeply human.
...
He did not thank the Academy. He did not reminisce about Mr. Bean, Blackadder, or decades of global laughter. Instead, Atkinson looked straight into the audience of wealth and influence and declared:
"We sit here surrounded by diamonds and artistic glory while the world outside is falling apart. If your voice can move millions and you choose not to use it for those who have no voice, then you are not creating change--you are creating noise."
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook post on Movie Verse page.)
It continued:
The room fell into complete silence. Film executives and invited guests sat motionless, struck by the weight of his words. He continued, unwavering:
"If you have more than you need, it no longer belongs only to you. Your responsibility is to lift up those who are still beneath you."
And he did not stop at words.
That very night, Atkinson announced that all profits from his archived works and future creative releases--estimated at 160 million USD--will be donated to fund women's health research, climate action initiatives, and arts education for underprivileged children.
His message was unmistakable:
"Legacy is not built on what you earn. It is built on what you give."
In an era when celebrities are often dismissed as fallen idols, Rowan Atkinson delivered a powerful reminder to the world: true impact is not created by applause, but by easing the suffering of others.
The Facebook page "Movie Verse" which was used to promote the story had a page transparency tab (archived here) indicating it was run from Vietnam:
(Image source: screenshot of the page transparency tab of the Movie Verse 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 Vietnam here.
Lead Stories searched the Google News index of thousands of news sites for articles mentioning Dec. 20, gala , Zuckerberg , and "you are not creating change--you are creating noise". That search (archived here) did not return any results, though a tongue-lashing like that would be newsworthy in a city defined by celebrity culture.
The Atkinson version of the Facebook post on the Movie Verse page linked to a story (archived here) that included following passage:
His closiпg words were brief bυt υпforgettable: "Legacy is пot bυilt oп what yoυ earп.
It is bυilt oп what yoυ give."
Withiп miпυtes, social media platforms begaп to explode.
Clips of the speech spread rapidly, shared by faпs, critics, aпd commeпtators alike.
The article is full of homoglyphs, marked below in pink.
Homoglyphs are text characters that resemble letters from the Latin alphabet but are actually characters from another alphabet. This is a common tactic for bypassing AI detectors. In the sample below the lowercase "n" and "u" are represented by look-alike characters from Cyrillic or Greek:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot, with pink highlighting added, of post at https://goldflow.daily24.world/posts/rowan-atkinson.)
There are several reasons fake news spreaders might use homoglyphs, for example to avoid search engine or ad network blocking, or plagiarism detection -- but there are no reasons why a legitimate news outlet would do this.
Stories with the identical quotes and structure, but featuring different celebrities, turned up in a search on Facebook for the phrase "took the stage to receive a lifetime achievement award. but instead of offering a conventional acceptance speech, he chose a moment of truth--direct, fearless, and deeply human." That search (archived here) brought up a series of posts, almost all accompanied by the same picture of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Lead Stories found posts involving:
- Pop star Celine Dion;
- Movie star and singer Barbra Streisand;
- Rock star Stevie Nicks;
- Dancer Derek Hough;
- Pop star Pink;
- Folk singer Joan Baez;
- Rock star Rick Springfield;
- Country star Dolly Parton;
- Movie star Morgan Freeman;
- Heavy metal star Paul Stanley;
- Country star Miranda Lambert;
- Movie star Kevin Costner;
- Pop star Tom Jones;
- Worship music singer Guy Penrod;
- Rock star Bob Dylan;
- Itzhak Perlman;
- Taylor Momsen.
Below is a GIF displaying some versions of the posts found in the Facebook search:
(Image source: Animation of Facebook search results for the key phrase including "instead of offering a conventional acceptance speech, he chose a moment of truth" etc.)
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'"
