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Nearly three years after Ben Stiller<\/strong> called<\/a> Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong> \u201cmy hero\u201d during a humanitarian trip to his country, the actor is refuting claims that his travels were funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).<\/p>\n \u201cTotally false. Untrue,\u201d Stiller wrote alongside a video from an account titled \u201cI Meme Therefore I Am\u201d that has been reposted<\/a> by Elon Musk,<\/strong> Donald Trump Jr.<\/a>,<\/strong> and former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell<\/strong>, who, last October, pleaded guilty<\/a> to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with the performance of election duties. The clip, which falsely bears the E! News watermark, claims that USAID paid various actors to visit Ukraine and has racked up millions of views since being posted on Wednesday, February 5.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are lies coming from Russian media,\u201d Stiller posted on X (formerly Twitter). \u201cI completely self-funded my humanitarian trip to Ukraine. There was no funding from USAID and certainly no payment of any kind.\u201d<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Stiller visited Ukraine back in June 2022 as a Goodwill Ambassador to honor World Refugee Day. In a video posted to his Instagram account<\/a> at the time, Stiller said, \u201cI\u2019m meeting people who\u2019ve been impacted by the war and hearing how it\u2019s changed their lives. War and violence are devastating people all over the world. Nobody chooses to flee their home. Seeking safety is a right and it needs to be upheld for every person.\u201d<\/p>\n The video from February 5 claims that USAID paid Angelina Jolie<\/strong> $20 million, Sean Penn<\/strong> $5 million, Jean-Claude Van Damme<\/strong> (misspelled in the footage) $1.5 million, Orlando Bloom<\/strong> $8 million, and Ben Stiller<\/strong> $4 million to complete their respective visits to Ukraine.<\/p>\n Jolie visited Ukraine<\/a> between April and May 2022 while serving as a special envoy for the UN refugee agency. Penn made the trip multiple times to meet with Zelenskyy while filming a documentary<\/a> about the war-torn region. Van Damme was seen in Ukraine<\/a> in December 2022 alongside a fleet of soldiers. And Bloom met the Ukrainian president as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador<\/a> in March 2023.<\/p>\n Community Notes at the bottom of the video state, \u201cVideo has been fabricated to appear as though it came from E! News, but there is no evidence that E! News ever reported this.\u201d Furthermore, AFP\u2019s FactCheck reporter Bill McCarthy<\/strong> wrote in a post<\/a> that he reached out to E! and a spokesperson said the video \u201cis not authentic and did not originate from E! News.\u201d<\/p>\n This rumor circulates as Donald Trump<\/strong> makes plans to overhaul USAID,<\/a> which offers international civilian aid, according to Musk. The billionaire has said the agency will soon be put \u201cinto the wood chipper<\/a>\u201d and is a \u201ccriminal organization<\/a>.\u201d The Democrats say that Trump cannot legally<\/a> axe a federal agency without first consulting Congress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nX content<\/h4>\n
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