In August 2025, social media lit up with a claim that NHL superstar Connor McDavid had donated $12.9 million in bonuses and sponsorship money to create homeless support centers in Edmonton, Alberta. Posts described the donation as a series of shelters funded entirely by McDavid, presenting him as a generous local hero.
Viral Facebook Post Sparks Widespread McDavid Donation Rumor Lacking Credible News Evidence
The rumor gained momentum after the Facebook page Orange Line Legends published a post on August 9 showing McDavid smiling and giving a thumbs-up alongside images of houses. The post amassed over 98,000 reactions, and other Facebook users quickly reshared it. Many of these reposts included comment links leading to ad-filled blogs repeating the same story.
Connor McDavid (NHL)Snopes and other fact-checkers searched Bing, Google, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo for credible confirmation of the donation. No reputable news sources had covered it, something highly unlikely if the story were real. The complete absence of legitimate coverage signaled that the claim was untrue.
Fabricated Feel-Good Stories Use AI Tricks to Spread False Celebrity Acts Online
The investigation revealed the tale was entirely fabricated, part of a larger network of inspirational but false stories. Orange Line Legends and similar pages frequently post AI-generated text and manipulated images to make their claims more convincing. One earlier example involved an image of Elon Musk holding a sign that misspelled “Tesla” as “Testa” in a fake NHL-related story.
Snopes identified the McDavid rumor as an example of “glurge,” fabricated, sentimental stories meant to evoke emotion and encourage sharing. These posts primarily serve to drive traffic to websites for advertising revenue. While harmless in appearance, such fabrications highlight the importance of verifying viral claims before believing or spreading them.
