Did Kevin Costner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jared Goff, or any celebrities donate millions of dollars to support the funeral arrangements for four of the six U.S. servicemembers killed in a drone strike in Kuwait? No, that's not true: The false claim that at least 37 sports and entertainment celebs made such donations began spreading in Facebook posts hours after the U.S. Defense Department identified the dead servicemembers. It was created and distributed by a spam factory based in Vietnam that uses artificial intelligence tools to publish fake articles promoted by Facebook pages also managed from Vietnam.
The claim appeared on at least 37 Facebook fan pages managed from Vietnam, including in a post (archived here) shared by the "The High Altitude Heroes" page on March 4, 2026. The caption read:
BREAKING NEWS: Denver Broncos legend Peyton Manning has donated $8.9 million from his recent earnings and activities to support the funeral arrangements for four of the six U.S. servicemen killed in a drone strike in Kuwait.
The donation will help cover funeral expenses for the fallen soldiers, while also supporting their families with future living costs, offering comfort during this time of grief as tensions in the region continue to rise. ❤️
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Mar 6 23:53:44 2026 UTC)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of The High Altitude Heroes Facebook page)
The post includes a link (archived here) to an article that tells a fictional story, generated by artificial intelligence tools, that offers no sourcing.
A Facebook search (archived here) for the phrase "to support the funeral arrangements for four" found nearly-identical posts making the claim about at least 37 different entertainment and sports celebrities, including:
- Trace Adkins
- Josh Allen
- Nate Ament
- Andrea Bocelli
- Kylan Boswell
- Henry Cavill
- Kevin Costner
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jared Goff
- Josh Groban
- Mark Gronowski
- Buddy Guy
- Jack Ham
- Lewis Hamilton
- Hannah Harper
- Keyshawn Hall
- James Hetfield
- Jalen Hurts
- Tom Izzo
- Trevor Lawrence
- Jordan Love
- Yo-Yo Ma
- Post Malone
- Barry Manilow
- Peyton Manning
- Grant McCasland
- Sean McVay
- Randy Owen
- Dolly Parton
- Joel Quenneville
- Julian Sayin
- Geno Smith
- Rick Springfield
- Barbra Streisand
- Isa Torres
- Mark Wahlberg
- Denzel Washington
The Facebook page hosting the Manning post, which is filled with similar AI slop posts, is controlled by eight managers in Vietnam, according to the Meta transparency data.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of The High Altitude Heroes Facebook page)
The 37 Facebook pages sharing the fake funeral donation posts include: American Baritone, American Football Fever, Auburn Plains Hoops, Backstreet Harmony, Birds of Prey, Black Hole Chronicles, Blue & Sol Collective, College Hoops Nation, Duval Dynasty, Electric Heart Rock, Frozen Skyline Hockey, Garnet & Gold Glory, Hawkeye Honor, Heavenly Voice Journey, Lake Effect Legend, Lambeau Lights, Legend News Desk, Legendary LH44, Midnight Feelings, Penn State Insider, Pure Electric Blues, Raider Iron Legion, Relentless Cinema, Rocky Top Vols Family, Rustic Music, Sentimental Sounds, SevenDay Newsfeed, Sound Break, Spartan Nation, Star Presence, Storyteller in Motion, Strings Reborn, Terrible Towel Triumph, The High Altitude Heroes, Trackside Insider, Velvet Melodies, Vocal Stormbringer
This montage of the Meta transparency data for each page confirmed that all of them are managed primarily from Vietnam.
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.
Lead Stories has published a primer -- or a prebunk -- on how to identify these kinds of fake posts originating from Vietnam. It's titled "Prebunk: Beware Of Fake Fan Pages Spreading False Stories About Your Favorite Celebrities -- How To Spot 'Viet Spam'."
