In November and early December 2023, a rumor made its way across the internet claiming that #ad“Home Alone” actor Macaulay Culkin would be returning to the series in a new movie for Disney+.
Manyposts on social media – Facebook & X claimed the new film would be titled “Cabin Alone” and shared what appeared to be a movie poster featuring Culkin all grown up and in a holiday sweater, surrounded by Christmas decor:
Get ready for a hilarious adventure in “Cabin Alone” starring Macaulay Culkin! When his family’s cabin getaway turns into treasure hunt chaos, Kevin must outsmart bumbling treasure hunters convinced DB Cooper’s loot is under his cabin. Will he save the day before his family arrives and crashes the party? Find out in this laugh-out-loud family comedy!
No evidence found that such a film is in the works, including no official confirmation from Culkin or Disney+. The creator of the above image also appears to have edited Culkin’s face onto another body, given the contrast in lighting from his face to his neck as well as the strange blurring effect around his ears.
Originated as Satire – The poster originated from a Facebook page titled “YODA BBY ABY,” which describes its content as satirical in nature: “I’m just here to eat frogs, lift rocks and be satirical,” its profile says.
Culkin’s IMDb page shows, as of this writing, that he has only one forthcoming appearance, which is a retrospective film compiling music videos of Michael Jackson, in which he starred as a child.
Browsing at Disney+ catalog of upcoming movies online, we also found no evidence of the above poster or of any film called “Cabin Alone.” Disney+ already released a “Home Alone” movie reboot in 2021 titled “Home Sweet Home Alone” without Culkin. While there were rumors that Culkin would be involved, an X account that has been attributed to him denied he was acting in the film. The account posted on X: “Hey y’all. Just a heads up since I’ve been getting this question a lot today: I am NOT in the new Home Alone reboot. I wish all involved the best of luck though.”
Is This a Real Video of Israeli Children Singing ‘We Will Annihilate Everyone’ in Gaza? The video was allegedly posted and deleted by Kan, an Israeli news channel.
On Nov. 19, 2023, The Electronic Intifada, an online publication that focuses on Palestinian perspectives, claimed that a video showing Israeli children singing about the “annihilation” of Gaza had been shared, then deleted, on Israeli public broadcaster Kan News’ online platforms.
????WATCH: Israeli children sing, “We will annihilate everyone” in Gaza, against a background of destruction.
Disturbing video was posted, then deleted by Israeli national broadcaster @kann_news.
Titled “Friendship Song,” the video in question featured a group of children reportedly singing in a re-recording of an old song originally written by Israeli poet Haim Gouri after the 1948 war that led to the creation of the state of Israel, but with amended lyrics referring to Gaza. David Sheen, an independent filmmaker and writer, translated these new lyrics for The Electronic Intifada into English from Hebrew. Per his translation, the children sang:
Autumn night falls over the beach of Gaza
Planes are bombing, destruction, destruction
Look the IDF is crossing the line
to annihilate the swastika-bearers
In another year there will be nothing there
And we will safely return to our homes
Within a year we will annihilate everyone
And then we will return to plow our fields
The above video is indeed real and was created by Israeli advocacy group The Civil Front, which frequently does public campaigns to support the Israeli armed forces. The children in the slickly-produced video wore black T-shirts with the same blue logo as that on The Civil Front’s YouTube page.
The video was also available on the group’s YouTube page and was published on Nov. 19, 2023:
After the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in Israel, The Civil Front carried out a billboard campaign in Tel Aviv in order to show support for Israeli soldiers and police officers. Some of the billboards, according to The Jerusalem Post, used AI-generated images of Hamas and Hezbollah leadership showing them beaten and captured by Israeli soldiers.
While the video was not created by Kan News, it was shared on Kan News’ website with the new lyrics before being deleted. The archived link is available here. The same video was shared on Kan News’ X account, @kann_news, before being deleted, but the post remains archived here. While @kann_news has no check mark to signal its authenticity, its content is frequently reposted by the broadcaster’s main X account, @kann.
When we ran the lyrics in the archived link through Google Translate, we found the translation was very similar to the above lyrics shared by The Electronic Intifada:
Autumn night is falling on the Gaza coast
Planes are shelling, destruction, destruction
Here the IDF is crossing the line
To eliminate the swastika bearers
In another year there will be nothing there
And we will return safely to our home within a year
We will eliminate them all
And then return to plowing our fields
Middle East Eye reported that the new lyrics were co-written by Ofer Rosenbaum, the chairperson of The Civil Front, and Shulamit Stolero (according to the Jewish Press).
Jewish Press, a U.S.-based news organization that describes itself as an “advocate on behalf of the State of Israel,” also covered the removal of the video from Kan News’ platforms. The report claimed that the children in the video ranged from the ages of 6 to 12 years old and were singing an updated version of Gouri’s poem. The children were reportedly among those evacuated “from the Gaza envelope settlements.”
Jewish Press also published its own translation of the lyrics:
On the Gaza beach the autumn night is descending
Planes are bombing, ruin follows ruin
See the IDF crossing the borderline
To annihilate the Swastika carriers
In one more year
There won’t be anything left there
And we’ll return safely to our home
In one more year
We’ll eliminate them all and go back to plowing our fields
The above translations use both “annihilate” and “eliminate” to refer to the destruction of Gaza.
There is no publicly known reason for why Kan News deleted the video, but Electronic Intifada argued, “It is possible that someone there was concerned that it could make the channel complicit in genocide.” Electronic Intifada also noted that Israelis and other users criticized the post. Middle East Eye reported that the posts resulted in many online accusing the news agency of advocating genocide. We have reached out to the network and will update this post if we receive more information.
The Jewish Press was critical of Kan’s decision to remove the video, writing sarcastically that “someone at Kan 11 found the harsh sentiment pronounced by the six girls in the video unacceptable for viewing – by a nation which just watched more than a thousand of its people being raped, beaten, beheaded, and burned alive. So they took it down.”
On Nov. 16, 2023, U.N. experts and scholars warned that grave violations committed by Israel against Palestinians point to a “genocide in the making.”
A photograph circulated on X, on Nov. 1, 2023 supposedly showing actor Arnold Schwarzenegger standing between former basketball player Wilt Chamberlain and former wrestler André the Giant (i.e. André René Roussimoff) and looking short in comparison. The photo was supposedly taken in 1983 on the set of “Conan the Destroyer,” an action-adventure film released a year later.
Arnold Schwarzenegger with Wilt Chamberlain and Andre the Giant on the set of Conan the Destroyer, 1983 pic.twitter.com/OnxGEh0Mye
This was an authentic photograph of the three men. We found a copy of it on IMDb, as well as in Getty Images’ database of photojournalism. The photo was taken by photographer Rolf Konow on the set of #CommissionsEarned “Conan the Destroyer” in Mexico City, in 1983, according to Getty Images. A per that reason, we rated this claim “True.”
The photograph showed specifically the height differences between Schwarzenegger and the other two men. Schwarznegger is 6 feet 2 inches tall, according to his IMDb profile. Chamberlain, who died in 1999, was 7 feet 1 inch tall, according to IMDb. Meanwhile, Roussimoff, who died in 1993, was 7 feet 4 inches tall, according to his Los Angeles Times obituary.
In the 1984 film, Schwarzenegger played the titular hero, “Conan.” Chamberlain, who retired from professional basketball in 1973, played “Bombaata,” an antagonist, while Roussimoff had an uncredited role (his name did not appear in onscreen titles for the film since it was a small cameo) as a monster named “Dagoth.” According to IMDb, the plot centers on Schwarzenegger’s character leading “a ragtag group of adventurers on a quest for a princess.”
