In March 2025, publications circulated on social networks that a Hollywood actor posted an Instagram story with an offensive comment about Ukrainians. We have verified the accuracy of such messages.

The news has been spreading on the RuNet since March 10. It is alleged that Russell Crowe decided to comment on Instagram posts about how Ukrainians, according to US Vice President J.D. Vance, scared his three-year-old daughter during their unexpected meeting with the politician’s family. As evidence, a screenshot of the actor’s story is provided, where he allegedly wrote: “Oh, so that’s why Russians call them pigs.”

The screenshot was published by Telegram channels “Evil proof️"(243,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Uncle Slava"(209,000), "Russia now • news"(196,000), "Putin on Telegram" (176,000), "Bullet"(87,000), "Z-News | Army Z 18+"(75,000), etc.

From the inauguration of Donald Trump in the USA pass protests against his policies. Activist groups are expressing disagreement with the new administration's first decisions: tightening immigration laws, policy changes regarding trans people and the actions of the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk. One of the latest widely discussed promotions passed March 1 in Vermont, where Vance went on vacation with his family the day after a meeting in the White House with the participation of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky that ended in scandal (although the organizers announced the rally a few days before).

On March 8, while walking with his youngest daughter in Cincinnati, the US Vice President collided with pro-Ukrainian demonstrators. How claim activists, they were going to a protest that was supposed to take place nearby and accidentally met Vance. A dialogue took place between them about the war in Ukraine; the protesters accused the White House of “selling out” their ally, with which Vance did not agree. Soon he published on the social network X, a post in which he claimed that activists chased him during a walk and shouted slogans, which frightened his three-year-old daughter.

Judging by the viral image, a video or photo from this meeting was allegedly posted by Russell Crowe. On top of it, the artist inserted screenshots of three headlines from the media about this incident: The Independent, New York Post And Fox News. At the top, the author of the story added his own comment: “Oh, that’s why Russians call them pigs.”

On the left is a viral image, on the right is a screenshot from video, filmed by one of the activists during a meeting with Vance. Source: collage “Verified”

The screenshot shows that the story was published 13 hours before it was seen by the user who took the screenshot. Although Crowe is not as active on his social media pages, he has Instagram signed 1.3 million users - it seems strange that in at least 13 hours only one of his subscribers managed to take a screenshot. Given the resonance of the statement, the image or at least information about the actor’s comment should have been distributed in authoritative English-language and Ukrainian-language sources, but this did not happen. Moreover, the screenshot, which, judging by the interface details, was taken by an Android smartphone user, lacks characteristic elements: time, phone battery level, Internet connection indicator at the top of the screen and navigation buttons at the bottom.

In general, judging by the posts on Crowe’s verified accounts on social networks (Instagram And X), the actor rarely speaks out about politics. His publications are mainly devoted to everyday life And musical career in the Indoor Garden Party group. “Verified” was unable to find in open sources any remarks from Crowe about Ukraine and the Russian invasion of this country.

We also note that none of the materials whose headlines are in the viral screenshot say that Ukrainians attacked the US Vice President and his daughter. While viewing video Vance's meetings with protesters fail to identify their ethnicity. According to local media materials that took comments from demonstrators, mentioned only one native of Ukraine named Diana Ewald, but she, by her own admission, has lived in the USA for more than 25 years. In general, not a single reputable media outlet talks about Ukrainian attacks on Vance, or that such protests are organized by Ukrainian citizens. Moreover, the politician himself did not talk about it.

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels actively wrote about the fact that it was Ukrainians living in the United States who attacked Vance while walking with his three-year-old daughter. On the night of March 8-9, a few hours after the politician posted about a meeting with activists, they began distributing a screenshot of his tweet with headlines like “Ukrainians attacked the three-year-old daughter of the US Vice President.” First publication of this kind appeared in the channel “News from the world of eternal struggle” on March 9 at 00:19 Moscow time. Further, such accusations spread in other channels and media: for example, he wrote about this “Constantinople"(218,000 views), specifying that Ukrainians shouted Nazi slogans from the Maidan, as well as "Ukraine.ru"(136,000), "Freshness"(84,000), etc.

The first publication of a fake screenshot from Crow’s story took place the next day - March 10 at 1:10 p.m. posted Telegram channel “Bear”, then the image was also distributed mainly in pro-Kremlin sources. All mentioned higher channels appear regularly in “Verified” reviews as distributors or primary sources of disinformation about Ukraine.

Thus, there is no evidence that Russell Crowe published stories with offensive comments about Ukrainians. The screenshot used as evidence has all the signs of falsification, and its distribution began from pro-Kremlin Telegram channels.

Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons