Summary: A viral post circulating on Facebook purporting to be made by Stanton Witherspoon announcing his imprisonment is fake and misleading.
On April 29, a Facebook user identified as Samuel S Quaqua posted a screenshot of a post attributed to Stanton Witherspoon, the former Spoon FM CEO. The post suggests that Mr. Witherspoon was announcing to the public and his supporters that he was jail bond.Stanton Witherspoon was found guilty by a Florida Court in the United States of America on August 24, 2023, for wire fraud.
Claim
An excerpt of the screenshot reads: “Dear Friends and supporters of rescue teams. I’m writing to you today with a heavy heart, knowing that I’ll be away for a while. As you know, I’ve been facing some legal issues, and unfortunately, I’ve been sentenced to time in jail.”
Rating Justification
To verify the claim, our fact-checking desk did a thorough review of the official Facebook account/profile of Stanton Witherspoon, including his media network, Spoon TV Facebook page.
We found no post relating to the claim.
To further authenticate the claim, we then contacted Mr. Witherspoon via WhatsApp regarding the post that was attributed to him on Facebook.
In his response to our message, he debunked the claim, noting that it is “fake”.
Conclusion
Therefore, based on the research conducted by our fact-checking desk, we conclude that the screenshot is fake and misleading. The comments made in the screenshot were never made by Mr. Witherspoon.
This report is produced with funding from the USAID Media Activity. The funder has No say in the editorial decisions leading to the production of this content