FACT CHECK: No, Patrick Mahomes Did Not Reject Elon Musk’s $10 Million Donation To His Football Program
A viral post shared on Facebook claims Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes purportedly rejected Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $10 million donation to his football program.
Verdict: False
The claim originally stems from a March 26 article published by autulu.com. Content detection scans using GPTZero and QuillBot indicate the article text has been generated using artificial intelligence (AI).
Fact Check:
President Donald Trump said he plans to invite the Kansas City Chiefs to visit the White House after they were unable to attend following their 2020 Super Bowl victory as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, according to CNN. Trump told Outkick’s Clay Travis about his plans to invite the team while aboard Air Force One recently, the outlet reported.
The Facebook post, which has received over 11,000 likes as of writing, claims Mahomes purportedly rejected Musk’s $10 million donation to his football program. The same post claims that Mahomes purportedly told Musk to “keep [his $10 million donation] and spend it on something that actually helps people.”
A March 26 article published by autulu.com repeats the claim.
The claim is false. Check Your Fact conducted a content detection scan using GPTZero and the results indicate the article text is 100% AI-generated. A second scan using QuillBot produced a slightly lower rating, suggesting only 74% of the text is likely to be AI-generated.
Likewise, Check Your Fact did not find the claim referenced on the website for Mahomes’ “15 and the Mahomies Foundation” or the football player’s verified social media accounts. An advanced search of Musk’s verified X account @elonmusk also does not generate any reference to the claim.
In addition, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports to support the claim. If Mahomes had truly rejected Musk’s purported donation to his football program, multiple media outlets would’ve covered it, yet none have.
Actually, the opposite is true. On March 27, Lead Stories debunked the claim, indicating the story about Mahomes purportedly rejecting Musk’s donation is AI-generated. (RELATED: No, General Motors Has Not Ended Its Relationship With Canadian Parts Makers)
This is not the first time a false claim has circulated online. Check Your Fact previously debunked a Facebook post claiming Trump had purportedly banned The Atlantic from the White House Briefing Room.