Short Version: Viral posts claiming Bruce Springsteen, Cher, Joni Mitchell and dozens of other celebrities bought small diners to serve 120 free meals daily are false. Fact‑checkers found 54 near‑identical articles and Facebook posts that reused the same photos and wording, typically swapping only the celebrity name. Investigations traced many items to a Vietnam‑linked operation producing AI‑generated hoaxes; no credible news outlets corroborate the claims.
Fact Check: Viral Claims That Springsteen, Cher, Joni Mitchell And Other Stars Bought Diners To Feed 120 Homeless Daily Are False
Lead Stories says: Factory Fakes
Claims that Bruce Springsteen, Cher, Joni Mitchell and dozens of other celebrities each purchased a small diner they once ate at and now serve 120 free meals to homeless people every day are false.
Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122119341993056316&set=a.122100057321056316.
What Was Claimed
Social posts and articles asserted that high‑profile celebrities quietly bought small diners where they once struggled and converted them into programs serving “120 free meals every single day.” Variants of the story named dozens of different celebrities and athletes.
Image source: screenshot of the page transparency tab of the "Working Man's Anthem" page on Facebook.
What We Found
Fact‑checking organizations, including Lead Stories, identified a pattern: 54 nearly identical stories circulated across a network of foreign websites and Facebook pages. Many of these posts reused the exact same photographs (commonly an elderly woman pictured as the diner owner and an image of a dining room) and swapped only the celebrity name. One example appeared on Jan. 6, 2026 on a Facebook page called Working Man's Anthem, which showed administration ties to accounts in Vietnam and the United States.
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Why The Claims Are False
- Searches of news indexes (including Google News) for key phrases such as "quietly purchased the small diner" and "free meals to 120 homeless people" together with celebrity names returned no credible reporting to corroborate the claims.
- The same photos and identical or near‑identical text were reused across dozens of posts, a classic sign of coordinated copying rather than original journalism.
- Investigators traced many of the items to an operation linked to Vietnam that appears to produce AI‑generated celebrity hoaxes. Lead Stories describes this type of coordinated, recycled content as "Viet Spam."
How To Spot These Hoaxes
Look for recycled images, identical wording across posts, a long list of different celebrity versions, and no coverage by mainstream outlets. Check the page transparency or site registration info and verify with established news organizations.
Examples Of Targets
The hoax versions named a wide range of figures including rock and country stars (e.g., Jon Bon Jovi, Dolly Parton, Miranda Lambert), musicians (e.g., Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page), actors (e.g., Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner), and athletes and coaches (e.g., Travis Kelce, Peyton Manning, Nick Saban), among many others.
Bottom Line
There is no credible evidence that Springsteen, Cher, Joni Mitchell or the many other celebrities named in these posts bought neighborhood diners to run daily feeding programs for 120 homeless people. The stories are copies of a recurring hoax distributed by a network of pages and sites that reuse images and text and substitute celebrity names. Verify such claims with reputable news sources before sharing.
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