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Celebrity endorsements of politicians have been a frequent subject of online misinformation in recent years, particularly since the beginning of the 2016 presidential election campaign season. Since then, junk news websites and social media pages have promulgated false claims that Pope Francis had endorsed both Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, and that the filmmaker Michael Moore, along with the actors Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington, had all endorsed Trump as U.S. president. However, part of the reason for the prevalence of the fake celebrity endorsement is that genuine celebrity endorsements of political figures are also very prevalent. One of those formed the basis of a viral meme in December 2018, which presented a quotation from the actor Jon Voight railing against the meltdown of the Obama era and calling on his fellow Americans to fight for Donald Trump. The following meme was widely shared and prompted inquiries from readers about its authenticity: 'I pray all Americans who have seen and felt the meltdown of America with the Obama years, to please fight for Donald Trump' -- Jon Voight: That quotation was authentic and accurate, and came from a longer pro-Trump statement made by the then-77-year-old Voight, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1978 for his role in the film Coming Home. On 9 March 2016, Voight provided the following statement enthusiastically endorsing then-Republican candidate Trump and describing the tenure of incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama as the meltdown of America: Voight has for some years been one of the most prominent conservative celebrities in Hollywood, a long-standing supporter of Zionism who was scathingly critical of Barack Obama before and during his presidency. The actor endorsed Republican candidate Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential election before lending his support to Donald Trump four years later.
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