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  • Hiro Murai Becomes First Asian Director to Win Emmy for Comedy Directing With ‘Widow’s Bay’

    Hiro Murai has made Emmy history.

    Murai on Monday won outstanding directing for a comedy series for the “Widow’s Bay” premiere, “Welcome to Widow’s Bay!,” becoming the first Asian director ever to win the category — and only the third Asian director to win in any Emmy category.

    He prevailed over a deep field that included Randall Einhorn (“Abbott Elementary”), Christopher Storer (“The Bear”), Andrew DeYoung (“The Chair Company”), Lucia Aniello (“Hacks”) and Mary Lou Belli (“The Ms. Pat Show”).

    The other Asians directors who have won previously include Lee Sung Jin for the first season of the anthology series “Beef” and Hwang Dong-hyuk for the first season of the drama series “Squid Game.”

    The Japanese filmmaker, who holds 11 career Emmy nominations, had twice been recognized in comedy directing — for “Atlanta” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” He was already a previous Emmy winner as an executive producer on the first season of “The Bear.” The “Widow’s Bay” win, for the pilot that set the show’s tone, anchors the craft dominance that carried the series to a leading field for a freshman show.

    This year’s Emmy nominations were led by “The Pitt” with 25 nominations, followed by “Hacks,” “Widow’s Bay” and “Beef.” Matthew Rhys scored a nomination for lead actor for “Widow’s Bay,” along with supporting stars Dale Dickey, Kate O’Flynn and Stephen Root. Creator and showrunner Katie Dippold also recevied a nom for outstanding writing for a comedy series for the pilot.

    “Katie Dippold, thank you for being brilliant and letting me ride shotgun,” Murai said on stage. “I’m so proud of everything we did. And most of all, I just want to thank my family and my partner Emma. I love you. Thank you.”

  • Gina Rodriguez and Justin Baldoni are getting back together – this time behind the camera

    Gina Rodriguez and Justin Baldoni are getting back together – this time behind the camera

    Gina Rodriguez and Justin Baldoni are reuniting for House of Guerrero, a new Latino boxing film. This time, they will both be behind the camera, acting as producers, with Rodriguez making her theatrical directorial debut. The news comes after her former co-star’s legal drama with Blake Lively finally seemed to come to an end.

    HOLLYWOOD, CA - JANUARY 10:  Actors Gina Rodriguez (L) and Justin Baldoni attend the Pilot Pen and GBK Luxury Lounge honoring Golden Globe nominees and presenters held at the W Hollywood on January 10, 2015 in Hollywood, California.  (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for GBK Productions) © Getty
    Gina Rodriguez and Justin Baldoni once played love interests

    House of Gerreroo is an original story by Bernardo Cubría and Rodriguez. According to Deadline, it follows a young fighter whose promising boxing career is cut short before he gets one last shot at returning to the ring and fighting for the life he thought he had lost forever.

    They maintained a friendship when the show ended © Getty Images
    They maintained a friendship when the show ended

    For Rodriguez, the story is personal and has left her feeling “incredibly emotional” and “deeply humbled. She has been boxing since she was a child, and the film allows her to combine that part of her life with her passion for storytelling.

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    “Directing this film feels like the beginning of a new chapter in a story I’ve been carrying with me my entire life,” Rodriguez told the outlet. “I’ve been boxing since I could walk, and I’m on a mission to show the world what fighting can teach you about life, if you let it.”

     Gina Rodriguez starred opposite Baldoni throughout all five seasons of “Jane the Virgin.”© Getty Images
    Gina was one of the celebs that showed him support

    She went on to talk about the importance of telling Latino stories. “At a moment when Latino stories, Latino families, and Latino heroes deserve to be seen and celebrated more than ever, I feel an enormous responsibility to tell this story with honesty, heart, and pride. I’ve dreamed about this film for so long, and I truly cannot wait to step into the ring and bring it to life.”

    Producer Scott Budnick echoed those sentiments, pointing out that while the Latino community has dominated boxing for decades, they have never been portrayed in a film. “Our film aims to correct that. Where older generations have films like Rocky and Creed, the next generation will have this film,” he told Deadline.

    From Jane and Rafael to Gina and Justin

    HOLLYWOOD, CA - MARCH 20: Gina Rodriguez and Justin Baldoni attend the Paley Center For Media's 2019 PaleyFest LA - © Getty Images
    Justin praised Gina’s skills

    Hearing that Baldoni and Rodriguez are working together comes with nostalgia. The duo played love interests turned best friends Jane Villanueva and Rafael Solano on Jane the Virgin.

    Their characters’ relationship kept viewers invested throughout the show’s run, but the friendship between the actors continued after the series ended in 2019.

    Baldoni made it clear how confident he is in her abilities. “Having spent five years working with Gina every day, I’ve had a front-row seat to her genius, both in front of and behind the camera,” Baldoni told Deadline.

    “She’s a rare talent with an incredible gift for telling stories that reach people on a deeply human level. Boxing is in her blood, and so is a deep passion to center Latino characters and experiences that rarely get to be at the heart of their own films,” he continued.

    Their reunion also comes after Rodriguez publicly supported Baldoni earlier this year, following the actor’s decision to speak publicly about the emotional toll of his lengthy legal dispute with Lively.

    After Baldoni and his wife, Emily Baldoni, shared an emotional video discussing the previous two years, Rodriguez was among those who showed her support. She commented on his post, writing, “Love you, friends. Por vida.”

  • Zendaya and Tom Holland Make Emmys Debut After Wedding

    Tom Holland is swinging through the Emmys for the first time ever to join Zendaya, his wife and co-star on “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey.”

    While “SNL” star Marcello Hernández was introducing best director for a comedy, he did a bit about all the stars he was excited to see. Among them was Zendaya. As the camera cut to “The Drama” star, we could see her husband, Holland, smiling wide behind her.

    “I want to say hi to Zendaya,” Hernández said. “Hi. You’re a beast and you’re amazing. And I saw you and I wanted to play it cool, and I’ve decided I can’t do that. So, I would like to invite you and Spider-Man to have dinner at my house.”

    Zendaya is celebrating her sixth and final Emmy nomination for “Euphoria.” She is nominated for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, which she has won twice before for her role as Rue.

    The couple stepped out in couture. Zendaya also wore Les Pétales Place Vendôme White South Sea Cultured Pearl earrings, while Holland was in Dior.

    “I loved the idea of taking something as timeless as Mikimoto pearls and making them feel fresh, modern and young,” her longtime stylist Law Roach said in a statement. “There’s an elegance to pearls that will always be classic, but the way Zendaya wears them tonight feels completely of the moment.”

    Roach on the red carpet retracted previous claims that Holland and Zendaya got married in private earlier this spring.

    “I actually lied, she wasn’t married, they actually haven’t had an official ceremony yet, its gonna happen after the ‘Dune’ press tour,” Roach said.

    When pressed, Roach confirmed no wedding has happened and any social media content of the wedding is false.

    “She’s been his wife for a really long time now, but its not official yet,” he said.

    This year has been a momentous one for the couple. Along with their alleged private nuptials earlier this spring, the two co-starred in “The Odyssey” and “Spider Man: Brand New Day,” two of the year’s biggest blockbusters. With $923 million to date in North America, “Brand New Day” is primed to soon overtake 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($936 million, not adjusted for inflation) as the highest-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office.

    After such a busy year, Zendaya told Fandango in March that she will “go into hiding for a little bit.”

    “I guess, you know, I just hope people don’t get sick of me,” she said. “And I really appreciate everyone who supports any of the movies or supports my career in any kind of way. I’m deeply appreciative, and like I said, I just hope you guys don’t get sick of me this year.”

  • EMMYS 2026 Full Winners List – UPDATING

    The biggest night in television is here. The 78th Emmy Awards are celebrating another year of television’s biggest stars, breakout performances, and shows that had everyone talking.

    Jean Smart accepts the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Award for "Hacks" from Zendaya © Getty
    Jean Smart accepts the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Award for “Hacks” from Zendaya

    Hosted by Mariska Hargitay, the ceremony is taking place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with the night’s biggest categories honoring the best of drama, comedy, limited series, reality, and more.

    Some of the biggest names heading into the ceremony include Zendaya, Noah Wyle, Jean Smart, Quinta Brunson, Ayo Edebiri, Jason Segel and Martin Short, while shows including The Pitt, Hacks, Widow’s Bay and The Bear are among the year’s major contenders.

    The Creative Arts Emmys already gave us some major winners, with Widow’s Bay leading the early pack with eight awards, followed by DTF St. Louis with six and The Pitt with four. Bad Bunny also picked up his first Emmy for his Super Bowl LX halftime show, while Mariska Hargitay won two Emmys for her documentary My Mom Jayne.

     Kate O'Flynn accepts the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Award for © Getty
    Kate O’Flynn accepts the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Award for “Widow’s Bay”

    The trophies continue tonight – see who has been taking home awards, and keep checking back in for the complete list of 2026 Emmy winners.

    Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series

    • Abbott Elementary, “Ballgame” – Randall Einhorn
    • The Bear, “Bears” – Christopher Storer
    • The Chair Company, “Life Goes by Too F**king Fast, It Really Does.” – Andrew DeYoung
    • Hacks, “Hacks (Finale)” – Lucia Aniello
    • The Ms. Pat Show, “Give It Arrest” – Mary Lou Belli
    • WINNER: Widow’s Bay, “Welcome to Widow’s Bay!” – Hiro Murai

    Outstanding Variety Series

    • The Daily Show
    • Jimmy Kimmel Live!
    • Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
    • WINNER: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
    • Saturday Night Live
    • The Rewind: Sofia Vergara’s Wardrobe Malfunction

    Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

    • The Gilded Age, “My Mind Is Made Up” – Salli Richardson Whitfield
    • Paradise, “Exodus” – Hanelle M. Culpepper
    • The Pitt, “12:00 P.M.” – Noah Wyle
    • Pluribus, “We Is Us” – Vince Gilligan
    • WINNER: Slow Horses, “Scars” – Saul Metzstein
    • Task, “Out Beyond Ideas of Wrongdoing and Rightdoing, There Is a River.” – Salli Richardson Whitfield

    Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series

    • Abbott Elementary, “Team Building” – Quinta Brunson
    • The Chair Company, “Life Goes by Too F**king Fast, It Really Does” – Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin
    • The Comeback, “Valerie Does It All” – Michael Patrick King, Lisa Kudrow
    • Hacks, “Hacks (Finale)” – Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky
    • Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, “Mergers and Acquisitions” – Anthony King
    • WINNER: Widow’s Bay, “Welcome to Widow’s Bay!” – Katie Dippold

    Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

    • Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – Wonder Man
    • Steve Carell – Rooster
    • WINNER: Matthew Rhys – Widow’s Bay
    • Jason Segel – Shrinking
    • Martin Short – Only Murders in the Building

    Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

    • Claire Danes – The Beast in Me
    • WINNER: Sally Field – Remarkably Bright Creatures
    • Carey Mulligan – Beef
    • Sarah Pidgeon – Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette
    • Sarah Snook – All Her Fault

    Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

    • Patrick Ball – The Pitt
    • Billy Crudup – The Morning Show
    • Shawn Hatosy – The Pitt
    • Gerran Howell – The Pitt
    • Jack Lowden – Slow Horses
    • WINNER: Tom Pelphrey – Task
    • Carlos-Manuel Vesga – Pluribus

    Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

    • Sterling K. Brown – Paradise
    • Gary Oldman – Slow Horses
    • Mark Ruffalo – Task
    • Rufus Sewell – The Diplomat
    • WINNER: Noah Wyle – The Pitt

    Outstanding Reality Competition Program

    • Dancing with the Stars
    • RuPaul’s Drag Race
    • Survivor
    • Top Chef
    • WINNER: The Traitors

    Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

    • Colman Domingo – The Four Seasons
    • Paul W. Downs – Hacks
    • Harrison Ford – Shrinking
    • Nick Offerman – Margo’s Got Money Troubles
    • WINNER: Stephen Root – Widow’s Bay
    • Michael Urie – Shrinking
    • Tyler James Williams – Abbott Elementary

    Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

    • Carrie Coon – The Gilded Age
    • Chase Infiniti – The Testaments
    • Keri Russell – The Diplomat
    • WINNER: Rhea Seehorn – Pluribus
    • Zendaya – Euphoria

    Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

    • Taylor Dearden – The Pitt
    • Fiona Dourif – The Pitt
    • WINNER: Allison Janney – The Diplomat
    • Katherine LaNasa – The Pitt
    • Sepideh Moafi – The Pitt
    • Julianne Nicholson – Paradise
    • Karolina Wydra – Pluribus

    Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

    • Riz Ahmed – Bait
    • Jason Bateman – Black Rabbit
    • Charlie Hunnam – Monster: The Ed Gein Story
    • Oscar Isaac – Beef
    • WINNER: Matthew Rhys – The Beast in Me

    Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

    • Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary
    • Ayo Edebiri – The Bear
    • Elle Fanning – Margo’s Got Money Troubles
    • Lisa Kudrow – The Comeback
    • WINNER: Jean Smart – Hacks

    Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

    • Dale Dickey – Widow’s Bay
    • Hannah Einbinder – Hacks
    • Janelle James – Abbott Elementary
    • WINNER: Kate O’Flynn – Widow’s Bay
    • Michelle Pfeiffer – Margo’s Got Money Troubles
    • Megan Stalter – Hacks
    • Jessica Williams – Shrinking

    Outstanding Comedy Series

    • Abbott Elementary
    • The Bear
    • Hacks
    • Margo’s Got Money Troubles
    • Nobody Wants This
    • Only Murders in the Building
    • Shrinking
    • Widow’s Bay

    Outstanding Drama Series

    • The Diplomat
    • The Gilded Age
    • A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
    • Paradise
    • The Pitt
    • Pluribus
    • Slow Horses
    • Your Friends & Neighbors

    Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

    • The Diplomat, “Amagansett” – Peter Ackerman, Debora Cahn
    • The Pitt, “1:00 P.M.” – Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman, R. Scott Gemmill
    • The Pitt, “12:00 P.M.” – Valerie Chu
    • Pluribus, “We Is Us” – Vince Gilligan
    • Slow Horses, “Scars” – Will Smith
    • Task, “A Still Small Voice” – Brad Ingelsby

    Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

    • All Her Fault
    • The Beast in Me
    • Beef
    • DTF St. Louis
    • Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette
  • A New Chapter in the Laptop Saga That Ended in Huge Disappointment: What Did Hunter Biden Ask Elon Musk For? Here Are the Details

    A New Chapter in the Laptop Saga That Ended in Huge Disappointment: What Did Hunter Biden Ask Elon Musk For? Here Are the Details

    Recently, Hunter Biden, son of former US President Joe Biden, announced his entry into the cryptocurrency market, bringing the laptop controversy—one of the most debated topics in US politics before the 2020 presidential election—to the cryptocurrency world.

    Laptop Released, Then Crashed Severely! X Account Suspended!

    Following this, Hunter Biden launched a memecoin called $LAPTOP on the Base blockchain on September 9, 2026. The token experienced an extremely rapid rise in its first few minutes, with the price exceeding $200. However, the rise was short-lived.

    Following the price crash, the discussions were not limited solely to the token’s economic performance.

    It has been reported that the X account of the $LAPTOP project has also been suspended. However, X has not publicly provided a clear reason for the suspension.

    At this point, Hunter Biden made a noteworthy move regarding the $LAPTOP token, which was launched just five days ago and ended in a major disappointment, and this time Biden addressed Elon Musk directly.

    Hunter Biden’s Call to Elon Musk!

    Hunter Biden requested that the ban on Elon Musk’s $LAPTOP account be lifted by tagging him via X.

    In his post, Biden, referencing warnings from Musk and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about the future of AI, jokingly asked if his $LAPTOP account could be reopened.

    Referring to Musk and Amodei’s warnings that artificial intelligence could pose a serious threat to humanity by 2030, Biden directly addressed Musk, asking, “Is there any chance we can lift the ban on the laptop token?”

    Hunter Biden’s call, tagging Musk, sparked a debate on social media about whether Musk would support $LAPTOP. However, according to current information, there is no verified evidence that Musk has supported, purchased, or taken any action to increase the price of the $LAPTOP token.

    On the other hand, there is no confirmed information yet regarding whether Musk responded to Hunter Biden’s request. Therefore, at this stage, the connection between Musk and $LAPTOP appears to be limited to Hunter Biden’s request to reopen his suspended X account.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • Is $MT the Next 100x Memecoin? A Realistic Look at MemeToro’s Presale Price vs Projected Launch Price

    Is $MT the Next 100x Memecoin? A Realistic Look at MemeToro’s Presale Price vs Projected Launch Price

    Another presale promising a possible 100x gain deserves skepticism. MemeToro’s Stage 7 price is $0.00430, while the project displays $0.05186 as its target launch price. Those two numbers imply a large increase, but they do not equal 100x and do not guarantee the price available in an open market.

    What Could $100 in $MT Become?

    At the Stage 7 price of $0.00430, a $100 purchase would secure approximately 23,256 $MT before payment and network charges. If $MT reached MemeToro’s displayed launch target of $0.05186, that allocation would carry a paper value of about $1,206, representing roughly 12.06 times the starting amount.

    A $1 billion fully diluted valuation would imply a token price near $0.8333. Under that scenario, the same allocation could theoretically be worth approximately $19,380, or almost 194 times the original purchase. This calculation requires sufficient liquidity and excludes slippage, fees, taxes and supply changes.

    A 100x return from the Stage 7 price of $0.00430 would place $MT at $0.43. That is far above the displayed $0.05186 launch target.

    Moving from $0.00430 to $0.05186 would represent about 12.06 times the presale price. These calculations assume every token could be valued and sold at the stated price. Real results would be affected by liquidity, trading fees, slippage, taxes and changing demand.

    Calling $MT the next 100x memecoin before public trading begins is therefore speculation.

    Supply and Valuation Matter More Than Unit Price

    MemeToro has a total supply of approximately 1.2 billion $MT. At $0.43, its fully diluted valuation would be about $516 million.

    That would require the market to value the developing platform alongside much larger and more established crypto projects. A low token price does not make that outcome easier if the supply is large.

    The public sale contains 857,936,900 tokens with no vesting. Immediate claim access can benefit presale buyers, but it may also increase selling pressure at launch.

    Marketing and partner allocations are described as vesting over 24 months. Buyers should verify the final distribution contracts, wallet addresses and release schedules on-chain.

    A realistic next 100x memecoin review must examine valuation, circulating supply and liquidity instead of focusing only on decimal places.

    What MemeToro Would Need to Deliver

    MemeToro has published an AI proposal pipeline and 1,373 lines of new fair-launch code. Its validator rejects unsupported URLs, allocations that do not equal 100%, insider allocations and conflicting funding settings.

    Its draft escrow also removes owner, administrator and upgrade controls. This is public evidence, but it is not a complete production platform.

    A stronger $MT case would require:

    • A working token and liquidity executor.
    • $BNB Chain testnet deployment.
    • Independent review of the new contracts.
    • A completed manifest-to-contract connection.
    • Live usage that creates demand for $MT.

    Even successful delivery would not guarantee 100x returns. Memecoin prices remain driven by liquidity, attention and broader market conditions.

    How to Buy $MT Without Assuming 100x

    Users can visit MemeToro’s official portal, connect a supported wallet and select $BNB, ETH, a supported stablecoin or card. They should verify the website before approving any transaction.

    Buyers should enter an amount they can afford to lose, review the quoted $MT allocation and retain the transaction record. They should also confirm claim instructions through official channels.

    The displayed launch price should be treated as a project target. A wallet showing tokens at a theoretical price does not ensure those tokens can be sold at that value.

    MemeToro’s code and supply information are public, leaving the next 100x memecoin conclusion to each reader.

    More Information on MemeToro ($MT) Presale Here:

    Website: https://memetoro.com/

    X: https://x.com/memetoro_mt

    Telegram: https://t.me/memetoro_mt

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY0jgWy_DtA

  • Kaiko extends Series B funding round to $110 million with S&P Global, BNP Paribas

    Kaiko extends Series B funding round to $110 million with S&P Global, BNP Paribas

    Crypto data provider Kaiko said it extended a four-year-old funding round to $110 million following an investment led by S&P Global in another sign of the convergence of digital and traditional finance.

    Kaiko announced the Series B in May 2022, when it raised $53 million, tripling its valuation, which remains undisclosed. A year earlier, the firm closed a $24 million Series A funding round led by Anthemis and Underscore VC. The new money will be used to expand its data infrastructure to support the growth of 24/7 digital markets, the firm announced Monday.

    The blockchain analytics firm did not immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for further information.

    S&P Global was joined in the round by BNP Paribas, Coinbase Ventures, Nasdaq, Royal Bank of Canada and Stellar among others, Kaiko said.

    “Digital asset markets operate 24/7, and the infrastructure supporting them must do the same,” Kaiko said, adding that the funding demonstrates that institutions running today’s capital markets are investing in the data infrastructure required to operate tokenized markets.

    Kaiko, founded in France in 2014, ​said it would use the funds to strengthen its data business and expand its product offering, which serves ​more than 150 exchanges and blockchain ​protocols.

  • US may be ‘forced to intervene’ in the Red Sea

    US may be ‘forced to intervene’ in the Red Sea

    Former CIA officer Scott Uehlinger said the US may be ‘forced to intervene’ in the Red Sea. While the White House has declined requests for direct military strikes for now, Uehlinger stressed that the United States faces growing pressure to intervene after Houthi forces seized control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

  • Did Trump write these requests for ‘simple’ funeral if he dies in office?

    Did Trump write these requests for ‘simple’ funeral if he dies in office?

    Claim:

    U.S. President Donald Trump drafted written instructions in case he dies in office, requesting a simple funeral and calling for: “No gold. No extravagance. No expensive casket. Military honors only.”

    Rating:

    False

    In early September 2026, people shared a rumor online that U.S. President Donald Trump drafted written instructions for a simple funeral in case he dies in office, saying he wants no gold, extravagance or expensive casket, with military honors only.

    Snopes received reader mail about this matter, with one person asking whether the words in the posts were truly Trump’s.

    A Facebook search for the rumor located numerous users posting the claim as a copied-and-pasted message, for example in a Sept. 8 post (archived) beginning as follows:

    🚨TRUMP SAID😭 | America, if I die 😭…. Today I want you to sit down before reading this, because what I’m about to share may bring tears to your eyes and make you see Trump’s heart in a completely different way.

    Purportedly, Trump has written detailed instructions about what should happen if he DIES while serving as President. And when you read what he reportedly requested, you may realize why so many people see this as a deeply humble message. He never wanted everything to be about glory. He wanted to SERVE.

    Here’s what the reported instructions say:

    “If I die in office: Keep funeral SIMPLE. No gold. No extravagance. No expensive casket. Military honors only — I served America, let the military honor me as they honor their own. Take ALL the money people would spend on flowers and donate it to VETERAN CHARITIES. Every dollar. And before you close my casket, read these words to America: ‘I tried. I’m sorry if it wasn’t enough. God bless America.’”

    In sum, while it’s possible Trump’s administration has drafted private, internal plans in the case of his death, further research determined the specific text appearing with this rumor is false and appeared to have been written with an artificial-intelligence tool.

    Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo did not find any news media outlets reporting about Trump penning detailed funeral instructions. If such a story truly happened, outlets worldwide would have covered the matter.

    The same searches located the posts’ text as far back as a popular Instagram post (archived) from May 2026 and a webpage from March 2026.

    We did not yet confirm the specific post or website where the rumor originated, or whether the claim started on an account describing its output as humor, parody or satire.

    The Pangram AI detection tool displayed a 100% match for AI after scanning the post’s text. Snopes does not depend on AI detection tools for absolute reliability, instead considering the tools’ information as one of several data points toward reaching a conclusion. For Pangram, we bear in mind the platform’s strong performance in third-party and internal evaluations, and its critics, as well.

    For further reading, we previously reported about a rumor claiming Trump said his funeral will draw a much bigger crowd than Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral.

  • Did Trump say Republicans are ‘dumbest group of voters’ in 1998?

    Did Trump say Republicans are ‘dumbest group of voters’ in 1998?

    Claim:

    In 1998, Donald Trump said he would run as a Republican in a presidential campaign because they are the “dumbest group of voters.”

    Rating:

    False

    In August and September 2026, a claim recirculated online that U.S. President Donald Trump told People magazine that Republicans are “the dumbest group of voters in the country.”

    “If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican,” the purported 1998 Trump quote begins. “They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.”

    The claim previously spread on social media platforms like Reddit, Threads and X in the summer of 2024. We also found the quote shared on Imgur in 2023 and on TikTok in 2020.

    We found no evidence that Trump ever said the quote in question.

    We previously wrote about the quote in 2015 and 2020. People magazine previously confirmed to FactCheck.org that it had no record of having published any such interview or exchange with Trump:

    People looked into this exhaustively when it first surfaced back in Oct. [2015]. We combed through every Trump story in our archive. We couldn’t find anything remotely like this quote — and no interview at all in 1998.

    Our research in People’s archives, which are no longer available on its website, found that in 1998 the magazine covered Trump mostly for his relationships with his first and second wives, Ivana Trump and Marla Maples. While there is evidence Trump was interested in politics during the late ’90s, nothing we found proved he ever said anything about “dumb Republicans” to any reputable publication.

    For further reading, we examined a rumor that Trump criticized the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City because he wasn’t allowed to speak at its 25th-anniversary remembrance of the 9/11 attacks.

    Sources

    Doherty, Erin. “Trump Wins New Hampshire Republican Primary, AP Projects.” Axios, Axios, 23 Jan. 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/01/24/trump-new-hampshire-primary-win-results-2024-election.

    Emery, David. “Did Trump Say Nikki Haley Was ‘in Charge of Security’ on Jan. 6?” Snopes, 20 Jan. 2024, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-nikki-haley-security-january-6/.

    Farley, Robert. “Bogus Meme Targets Trump.” FactCheck.Org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, 25 Nov. 2015, https://www.factcheck.org/2015/11/bogus-meme-targets-trump/.

    Farrell, Mary H.J. “The Trumps Head for Divorce Court.” People, https://people.com/archive/cover-story-the-trumps-head-for-divorce-court-vol-33-no-8/. Accessed 25 Jan. 2024.

    LaCapria, Kim. “Did Trump Say Republicans Are the Dumbest Group of Voters?” Snopes, 16 Oct. 2015, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/republicans-dumbest-group-of-voters/.

    Schneider, Karen. “The Donald Ducks Out.” People, https://people.com/archive/cover-story-the-donald-ducks-out-vol-47-no-19/. Accessed 25 Jan. 2024.

    Staff, Snopes. “Fact Check: Trump Did Not Call Republicans ‘The Dumbest Group of Voters.’” Snopes, 28 May 2020, https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/05/28/trump-republicans-dumbest-group-of-voters/.

    Transcript: Donald Trump Announces Plans to Form Presidential Exploratory Committee – October 8, 1999. https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/10/08/trump.transcript/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.