(NewsNation) — Actor Ben Stiller is denying claims made in a reportedly debunked social media post alleging that he and other actors were paid millions of dollars by the United States Agency for International Development to visit Ukraine.
“These are lies coming from Russian media,” Stiller posted in response to a video posted on X that makes the claim. “I completely self-funded my humanitarian trip to Ukraine. There was no funding from USAID and certainly no payment of any kind. 100 percent false.”
Stiller had visited Ukraine in 2022 and met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well as refugees amid its ongoing war with Russia.
What USAID does, and why Trump and Musk want to get rid of it
The video posted on X appears to show a screenshot of a story written by E! News that states that USAID “sponsored” celebrities to go to Ukraine in order to shore up support from Americans. The video also claims actors Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn and Orlando Bloom were paid by the agency.
The post came from an account called “I Meme Therefore I Am” and was reposted by both billionaire Elon Musk, who owns X, and Donald Trump Jr. It has since racked up millions of views and reposts.
An E! News spokesperson said the news story appearing in the video “is not authentic and did not originate from E! News,” reported AFP’s Factchecker Bill McCarthy in an X post.
E! News did not immediately return a request for comment from NewsNation.
The X community notes on the post also state that the “Video has been fabricated to appear as though it came from ENews but there is no evidence that ENews ever reported this.”
Neither Musk nor Trump Jr. have removed the post.
Since becoming the head of President Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has launched a widespread effort to eliminate USAID.
Musk alleged that USAID funding was used to launch deadly programs and called it a “criminal organization.”
Trump, under Musk’s recommendation, ordered USAID funding to be paused for 90 days and many of the agency’s staff were fired or put on administrative leave which largely halted the agency’s work.
