CLAIM: The quote below Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ high school yearbook photo reads: “My Mount Rushmore is Jesus, Sir-Mixes-a-Lot, and Nintendo 64.”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. An image of DeSantis’ entry in his yearbook was edited to add the quote. A spokesperson for the school district that oversees DeSantis’ alma mater confirmed to The Associated Press that the yearbook photo is authentic, but that there is no quote beneath it.
THE FACTS: Social media users are sharing the fabricated image as real, suggesting it shows the Republican presidential candidate was out-of-touch in his teen years.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The loud sniffing sound was added to the original video, which merely shows the president leaning in to speak with a baby being held by its mother at a recent event.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False.
The image shows a black-and-white image of DeSantis as a youth with the “Mount Rushmore” quote below it. The misspelled “Sir-Mixes-a-Lot” is a reference to Sir-Mix-a-Lot, the rapper known for his 1992 hit “Baby Got Back.”
“‘Sir-Mixes-a-Lot’ should automatically disqualify you from running for office,” reads one tweet that had received more than 32,000 likes by Monday.
A Facebook post states: “Six-Mixes-a-Lot, indeed. I’ll bet that’s exactly what he wrote on the yearbook request form, too. There is nothing about him that isn’t pathetic.”
But while the photo is authentic, the quote is not. Sean Clark, a spokesperson for Pinellas County Schools, told the AP. DeSantis graduated from the district’s Dunedin High School in 1997.
“This is a photo from the Dunedin High School yearbook; however, there is no quote within the yearbook photo beneath Governor DeSantis’ photo nor any other student within the yearbook,” he wrote in an email.
The unedited image of DeSantis’ photo was originally posted to Reddit in April, along with other photos from the governor’s high school yearbooks.
Neither DeSantis’ office nor his campaign immediately returned requests for comment Monday.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
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