On Dec. 19, former New York state legislator Jon Cooper, who has more than one million Twitter followers, posted a photo claiming to show actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson wearing a political t-shirt.
The shirt said “Keep America Trumpless,” referring to former President Donald Trump. Cooper's tweet has been shared more than 5,000 times and liked more than 67,000 times as of Dec. 20.
This comes after actor Ken Olin posted the same photo in June 2022, garnering thousands of shares.
THE QUESTION
Is the photo of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wearing an anti-Trump shirt real?
THE SOURCES
- TinEye, a reverse image search tool
- Warner Brothers
THE ANSWER
No, the photo was doctored. The anti-Trump shirt was edited onto a promotional image of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson from the 2015 film “San Andreas.”
WHAT WE FOUND
Using TinEye, a reverse image search tool, VERIFY traced the original photo back to when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a wrestler-turned-actor, starred in the 2015 film “San Andreas.”
The photo was posted on the Warner Brothers studio promotional website for the film, ahead of its theatrical release in May 2015.
Comparing the doctored image to the promotional film image, you can see the building in the background is the same, except the doctored version is slightly lighter. Johnson’s facial expression and posture are exactly the same in the doctored and original images; the only difference is the color and design of the t-shirt.
His shirt in the film promotion image says “Los Angeles Police Department,” and he is seen walking at an airfield holding a helicopter helmet.
This particular meme featuring Johnson in a “Keep America Trumpless” shirt has been circulating online for months. For example, the meme was posted to Twitter in December 2021. This is also not the first meme to be created out of Johnson’s pose from “San Andreas”; here is an example that was posted to Pinterest.
A spokesperson for Johnson had not returned VERIFY’s request for comment at the time of publication.
Johnson has waded into politics in recent years.
Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Johnson endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
In 2021, a poll published by Newsweek said 46% of Americans would like to see him run for president in the 2024 election.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Johnson said he hadn’t ruled out the possibility of running for president.
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