The Statement
A purported news article shared on social media claims former child star Macaulay Culkin revealed in an interview that Hollywood studio executives are “blood-thirsty Satanists” who murder and abuse child actors.
The Facebook post from October 26, shared in New Zealand, shows a screenshot of an article titled, “Macaulay Culkin: Satanic Hollywood Elites Murder Children During Rituals”.
The article screenshot features a photo of the actor holding a cigarette, while the text states the “former child star Macauley (sic) Culkin has blown the whistle on the entertainment industry elite to reveal that Hollywood studio executives are ‘blood-thirsty Satanists’ who ritualistically ‘murder child actors”.
It goes on to say Culkin claimed that the “worst of them wear shoes made out of the skin of children that they ritually murder”.
At the time of publication, the post had generated more than 200 shares and been viewed by more than 15,000 times.
The Analysis
The article featured in the Facebook post and related claims online reference a purported interview Culkin gave in France. However both the actor and French media have said the interview never took place, and the claimed quotes were fabricated.
Culkin is best known for his starring role as Kevin McCallister in the Home Alone movie franchise during the 1990s before he turning his back on Hollywood following a series of box office flops. He later revealed his father was “physically and emotionally” abusive during his childhood.
The claims included in the Facebook post appeared on several websites – here, here and here – in December 2017. The articles claim Culkin told French radio that Hollywood movie executives were “blood-thirsty Satanists” who ritualistically abused and murdered child actors.
An article from the website Neon Nettle – which features in FactCheck.org’s Misinformation Directory as a repeated source of false information – matches the first five paragraphs in the post’s screenshot.
The article claims that French media initially picked up Culkin’s story after he gave his radio interview but “within an hour of publication, all reports began to disappear”.
It also featured a screenshot of a purported news article by French financial publication Les Echos detailing Culkin’s purported claims. Les Echos previously confirmed to French fact checking outlet Hoax Buster and Reuters it never published the purported article.
A spokesperson for Culkin told Reuters that a lengthy quote detailing the alleged abuse featured in the Neon Nettle and other articles “is not only false it is completely fabricated”.
“It is offensive and misleading and should be disregarded entirely,” the spokesperson added.
Previous versions of the claim have been debunked here, here, here and here.
The Verdict
There is no evidence that Macaulay Caulkin made the comments detailed in the post’s article. The actor’s spokesperson described the comments as “fabricated” and “offensive”.
False – Content that has no basis in fact.
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