Олександр Кузьменко That's Life 7 February 2025, 11:29

Presley, Lincoln, and Shakespeare visit Ukraine with USAID money — social media mocks Russian fake spread by Elon Musk

Pro-Ukrainian Twitter users have started a trend with AI-generated images mocking a Russian propaganda hoax about USAID funds being allocated to celebrities meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky. American actor Ben Stiller immediately denied the claim, but that didn’t stop billionaire Elon Musk from spreading the hoax to his multi-million audience.

dev.ua has collected the most interesting memes.

What happened

Russian propaganda outlet TsargradTV fabricated a story purporting to be from entertainment news service ENews, claiming that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Hollywood stars’ visits to Ukraine and meetings with President Volodymyr Zelensky. The fake news about the «star-studded landing» even listed the amounts that the actors allegedly received from USAID:

Angelina Jolie — $20 million.
Sean Penn — $5 million
Orlando Bloom — $8 million.
Ben Stiller — $4 million.
Jean-Claude Van Damme — $1.5 million.

This fake was picked up by Western pro-Russian bloggers with a large audience, and was even retweeted by billionaire Elon Musk, who advocates for the destruction of USAID.

American actor Ben Stiller quickly responded to the fake.

«This is a lie from the Russian media. I financed my humanitarian trip to Ukraine entirely myself. There was no funding from USAID and, of course, no payment. 100% untrue,» Stiller denied the Russians' lies.

Memes about USAID funding of the «star landing» in Ukraine

Ukrainian and pro-Ukrainian accounts (mostly from the NAFO community) on X (Twitter) responded to the absurd fake with numerous AI images of Zelensky meeting with various famous people, and the fictitious huge sums they allegedly received from USAID for this. In these memes, Zelensky meets with deceased celebrities and even himself.

Singer Elvis Presley met with Zelensky for $100 million from USAID. Image: Vladi12

Singer Michael Jackson met with Zelensky for $500 million from USAID. Image: FlyingDutchPall

Pharaoh Tutankhamun received $10 million from USAID for his visit to Ukraine. Image: balkan_fella

Rapper Tupac received $170 million for shaking hands with Zelensky. Image: theelishev

Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill received £47 million from USAID for his visit to Ukraine. Image: fellaraktar

Mr. Spock from Star Trek received 3 tons of Latin from USAID for meeting with Zelensky. Image: Demoguardian

Singer Freddie Mercury received $300 million from USAID for performing with Zelensky. Image: DrundkeinArzt

William Shakespeare received £6 million from USAID for a photo with Zelensky. Image: JeffFisch

Former US President Abraham Lincoln received $486 million from USAID for economic advice to Zelensky. Image: serhii_rieznik

US President Donald Trump received $5 trillion from USAID for a photo with Zelensky. Image: nastasiaKlimash

Zelensky received $500 million from USAID for a photo with Zelensky. Image: Zorboter

Recall that US President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring the United States to conduct an audit of all non-military foreign assistance programs distributed through USAID during this time. In 2025, USAID planned to allocate a significant portion of its budget to support Ukraine, but the exact amount will be known after the US approves the country’s overall budget for the year.

It was previously reported that almost a third of Ukrainian GovTech projects were funded by USAID. Now that this funding has been suspended for 90 days, only completed projects will be paid for, and new initiatives will be put on hold.

Read the country's main IT news in our Telegram

USAID is the largest donor to the Ministry of Digital Economy: which projects are at risk due to the suspension of funding?

"One account reposted Russia Today content 86 times per second." How LetsData, a startup that makes a business out of fighting propaganda and fake news, works

"I tried to conquer space, but something went wrong." How Ruslan Stefanchuk, Jose Andres Paul Massaro and others reacted to Elon Musk's meme mocking Zelensky