Ben Stiller falls victim to Russian propaganda: It involves Ukraine

"Totally false. Untrue. These are lies coming from Russian media. I completely self-funded my humanitarian trip to Ukraine. There was no funding from USAID and certainly no personal payments," Stiller stated on his account on X.

Earlier, Elon Musk shared a video on social media supposedly from the American news resource "E!News," which was not released on any other official platforms. It turned out to be a Russian fake claiming that celebrities had visited Ukraine for the promotion of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, funded by USAID.

It was alleged that for the visit to Ukraine, Angelina Jolie received $20 million, Sean Penn $5 million, Jean-Claude Van Damme $1.5 million, Orlando Bloom $8 million, and Ben Stiller $4 million.

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Reaction in Ukraine

Representatives of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council also responded to this fake.

"Spreading such lies discredits and devalues support for Ukraine among global and cultural figures. Despite the blocking of X in Russia, Russian propaganda is actively using this social media platform to spread its narratives," said Andriy Kovalenco, Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.

Ben Stiller's visit to Ukraine

The Hollywood actor visited Ukraine in the summer of 2022. He was in Lviv, Kyiv, as well as the de-occupied towns of Irpin and Bucha, which had been liberated earlier that spring.

Stiller wanted to witness Russian atrocities in Ukraine firsthand and draw the world's attention to the war in Ukraine.

"Seeing all this firsthand is very impactful. I am here with the UN Refugee Agency. Our humanitarian mission is to draw attention to the fate of displaced persons due to this war, to internally displaced persons. And there are millions and millions of them," the Hollywood actor shared in an interview.