FACT CHECK: No, Country Music Icons Like Dolly Parton & George Strait Did NOT Refuse To Do Charlie Kirk Tribute At 2026 Super Bowl

Not a good sign to see thousands of people online getting riled up over news that’s not even true…. have people forgotten that you can’t believe everything you read on the internet?

AI is running rampant on social media right now. Either you are fully aware of that (since you are trying to keep your parents from falling for it) or you are the one that’s being fooled. Some people can’t discern between the real and the fake online, and now with the introduction of the misinformation supplement known as AI, you really have to be on your toes.

Society has dubbed this sub genre of artificial intelligence as “AI slop.” And though most are able to recognize it as “fake news,” some others are falling hook, line and sinker for these fabricated news stories that are all brought together with some AI-generated images. Narrated videos often accompany the post, and if someone talks over some pictures, it’s got to be true, right? (WRONG).

I can’t even begin to tell you how many I’ve come across as I’ve surfed the web… it’s truly concerning. The only thing more troubling to think about are the thousands of people that are watching and consuming these stories and believing them. With social media being the main source of news for a large amount of the population, these AI stories are being churned out with reckless abandon, and they’re actually gaining traction online.

And from what I’ve been able to gather, these AI story generators like to take advantage of legitimate news stories and moments in time, like the tragic passing of political activist Charlie Kirk.

In one of the latest examples of a fabricated artificial intelligence story, someone online used AI to craft a picture of Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton, George Strait, Vince Gill and Reba McEntire – alongside Charlie Kirk – and then stated that all of those country legends refused to come together to do a Charlie Kirk tribute at the 2026 Super Bowl.

Here was the message that has concerningly fooled thousands of people:

“What was supposed to be a routine halftime show turned into a cultural earthquake. Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton, George Strait, Vince Gill, and Reba McEntire didn’t just decline to perform — they refused a politically charged tribute to Charlie Kirk, exposing a hidden agenda that stunned the NFL and fans alike…

The artists’ refusal didn’t just disrupt the Super Bowl; it sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry, leaving critics scrambling, insiders whispering about hidden agendas, and fans divided over whether the event is still about football — or has become a battleground in America’s culture war.”

Couple of things should be easy to catch right off the bat. First off, the image that accompanies the fake announcement is clearly made with artificial intelligence. There’s no doubt that it captured the likeness of the five living country music legends, but it’s without a doubt a fake picture (though that bottom picture of Charlie Kirk appears to be real).

Second… there’s no other reputable source sharing this news, and an announcement of this caliber would be huge. We would have a press release, we’d have all the details. Reba, Dolly, Gill, Jackson and Strait have never once mentioned this as a possibility, and the NFL announced that Bad Bunny would be the Super Bowl halftime entertainment (with no news that they ever reached out to this list of country stars), so this can officially debunked as certified AI slop.

But the scary thing is over 24,000 people on Facebook have liked the post, and close to 4,000 have shared it… effectively spreading the fake news.

My advice to you (more importantly to the older people in your life) is to ask yourself a couple of questions when you see something online. If it feels like there is something off, chances are your instincts are serving you right. To be clear, Charlie Kirk is deserving of a tribute… but would it really make sense to wait until February to do so? It’s that kind of question and curiosity that can often times help discern what’s real and what’s fake on the internet.

And this story is definitely fake.The post FACT CHECK: No, Country Music Icons Like Dolly Parton & George Strait Did NOT Refuse To Do Charlie Kirk Tribute At 2026 Super Bowl first appeared on Whiskey Riff.