Fact Check: Jason Aldean Refuses $1M Paycheck To Sing National Anthem at Super Bowl?
Claim:
Country singer Jason Aldean refused a $1 million paycheck to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl, adding, "I'll do it for free."
Rating:
On Aug. 27, 2023, the Dunning-Kruger Times website published an article positing that country singer Jason Aldean had refused a $1 million paycheck to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl.
The article began as follows:
Jason Aldean Refuses $1M Paycheck To Sing The National Anthem at the Super Bowl: "I'll Do It For Free"
Jason Aldean was offered $1 million for just 3 minutes of his time — but he turned it down. According to a report, Aldean said he will definitely sing the National Anthem at next year's Super Bowl, but he won't take a dime to do it.
"I'll do it for free," Aldean said, adding that anyone who would take money for singing that song is un-American.
This item about Aldean, the national anthem, and the Super Bowl was not a factual recounting of real-life events.
The Dunning-Kruger Times is under the umbrella of America's Last Line of Defense, a network of content that's described on the Times' website as containing "parody, satire, and tomfoolery."
Any users who continued to read the article to the end would have found several hints that the story was satirical in nature. One paragraph in particular provided a very big hint with a quote from a made-up person with the humorous name, "Tara Newhole":
"What we have here is a case of mistaken satirical identity," said Newhole, "First, the dumb stories about Jason Aldean happened, then came Anthony Oliver. This story seems to be a stolen version of an idea initially stolen from a stolen version of that concept, making the whole thing very difficult to follow."
Lead Stories also filed a fact check on this satirical story.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.
Sources:
Lee, Marlo. "Fact Check: NO Evidence Jason Aldean Refused $1M To Sing National Anthem At Super Bowl -- Claim Comes From A Satirical Website." Lead Stories, 28 Aug. 2023, https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2023/08/fact-check-no-evidence-jason-aldean-refuses-1m-paycheck-to-sing-national-anthem-at-super-bowl.html.
Mikkelson, David. "Why We Include Humor and Satire in Snopes.com." Snopes, 15 Aug. 2019, https://www.snopes.com/notes/why-we-include-humor-and-satire-in-snopes-com/.
