|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: A Facebook user has alleged that soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is married to American YouTuber Darren Jason Watkins, popularly called IShowSpeed.
Verdict: FALSE. DUBAWA’s checks have shown that the Facebook user’s claim is false. Also, the images shared depicting the said marriage were generated by artificial intelligence.
Full Text
In June 2023, videos of American YouTuber and rapper Darren Jason Watkins, popularly called IShowSpeed and Christiano Ronaldo, went viral on social media. Ishowspeed, a big fan of Ronaldo, showed excitement after seeing his football superstar for the first time.
In the video, Speed showed the soccer star a tattoo of himself as a top fan on his left arm.
A year later, a Facebook user posted images of Ronaldo and Speed, claiming the YouTuber was pregnant for the Al Nassr forward.
“Penaldo and Speed after marriage,” the Facebook user claimed on May 29, 2024.
Data available on Facebook showed the post had over 9,200 comments, 4,700 shares, and 152,000 likes as of June 28, 2024.
A Facebook user, Ikem Uju, who commented on the post, wrote:
“We will all see the end of it all. Now, it looks perfect, but time will tell. Every perversion from nature has great consequences. We are enjoying technology today, yet the same technology is destroying the world gradually.”
Another Facebook user, Jackson On Fir, wrote:
“This baby will grow so stressed, frustrated, and confused when he knows this terrible history; the right family is composed of woman+man = children, not man+man nor woman+woman, neither.”
Also, Delores Pearson commented on the post: “No matter what people do, they can’t undo what God did. If a man says he’s pregnant, guess what he was born she!!!!”
Also, see online posts about the purported marriage between the soccer star and the YouTuber here, here, here, and here.
DUBAWA decided to probe the claim due to its virality and the interest it has generated online.
Verification
IShowSpeed has disputed the rumour. Reacting to it, the rapper questioned why people would fall for such a “lie” without evidence.
“What is wrong with y’all? I wish it was true, but it is not. You can’t play like this. Stop telling me congratulations,” IShowSpeed said in a YouTube video, starting from minutes 2:15 to 2:42.
The Al Nassr forward has been dating the Argentine-born Spanish media influencer Georgina Rodriguez since 2016, when the two met at a Gucci retail store in Madrid. Rodriguez has two children with Ronaldo and acts as a stepmother to his three other children.
There is no evidence to support the claim that the Portuguese forward is in a sexual relationship with the YouTuber.
After an extensive search across various online platforms, DUBAWA could not locate any images or publications of Ronaldo and Speed’s marriage on reputable websites.
DUBAWA later scrutinised the photos using an AI image detector, Hive Moderation, which revealed that the image was 99.5% AI-generated.
Conclusion
The claim that Ishowspeed is pregnant after his marriage to Cristiano Ronaldo is false. DUBAWA’s findings have shown the photos were AI-generated.
The researcher produced this fact-check per the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame Karikari Fellowship, in partnership with PTV GAMBIA, to facilitate the spirit of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy.
