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DISINFO DESK
Viral Misinformation
The New York Times Never Reported DiCaprio, Milano and Others Back 'All Democrats Are Criminals'
Seven fabricated New York Times-branded videos spliced real celebrity Cameo clips with invented captions to make actors appear to endorse a Republican midterm slogan — and the operation traces back to a Kremlin-linked influence campaign.
FILED SEP 25, 2026 · UPDATED SEP 25, 2026 · 3 SOURCES
The Claim
On September 18, 2026, two X accounts — @ireneconc and @jabussel — posted seven videos bearing fabricated New York Times branding, showing actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Eric Braeden, Annie Potts, Patrick Fabian, Alyssa Milano, Rachael Harris and Sean Astin appearing to endorse a campaign called "All Democrats Are Criminals" and urging viewers not to vote Democratic in November [1][2]. None of the actors said any of this, and the *Times* never published it.
The Evidence
Every clip traces back to real celebrity Cameo recordings that had nothing to do with politics [1][2]. Lead Stories matched DiCaprio's footage to a July 2019 MTV News interview with a CNN logo pasted over it [1], while Potts' and Fabian's videos opened with genuine Cameo footage that never mentioned the "All Democrats Are Criminals" campaign [1]. Harris's clip referenced a nonexistent Netflix project called "The Party of Sodom," which has no IMDb listing [2].
Eric Braeden's publicist, Charles Sherman, told Lead Stories on September 24, 2026 that the endorsement claim was "Totally false" [1]. No credible outlet — including the *Times* itself — ever reported these endorsements, and searches of Google News and Yahoo News turned up nothing but other fact-checks [2].
Who's Spreading It
The videos fit a larger, documented pattern. MS NOW reported on September 11, 2026 that a Kremlin-linked influence operation known as Matryoshka (also tracked as Operation Overload and Storm-1679) has been mass-producing doctored celebrity videos — AI-cloned audio layered over real Cameo and Gucci 'Chime for Change' footage — to make stars like Sarah Jessica Parker, Julia Roberts, Christopher Lloyd and Ed Begley Jr. appear to attack Democrats [3]. The same unauthorized CNN branding and #AllDemocratsAreCriminals hashtag documented in that operation match the videos of DiCaprio, Milano and the others [3].
The campaign names specific midterm candidates it targets, including Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Rep. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, and has spread across X, Bluesky and TikTok — prompting Bluesky to suspend seven accounts tied to the operation [3].
The Verdict
This is FALSE. No New York Times reporting exists, no actor endorsed "All Democrats Are Criminals," and the footage used is repurposed personal Cameo content stitched with fabricated captions [1][2]. The pattern — celebrity videos, counterfeit CNN branding, an anti-Democrat hashtag timed to the midterms — matches a documented foreign influence operation, not organic virality [3].
SOURCES · 3
- [1]*Lead Stories* - Fact Check: FAKE New York Times Videos Of Leonardo DiCaprio, Eric Braeden, Other Celebs, Falsely Claim They Support 'All Democrats Are Criminals'
82/100 · leadstories.com
- [2]*Lead Stories* - Fact Check: FAKE New York Times Videos Of Alyssa Milano, Rachael Harris, Sean Astin, Falsely Claim They Support 'All Democrats Are Criminals'
82/100 · leadstories.com
- [3]*MS NOW* - A Russian disinformation campaign is doctoring celebrity videos to meddle in the midterms
72/100 · ms.now
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