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| - A rumor circulating online in January 2025 claimed a photo showed country music star Carrie Underwood wearing a robe and hood associated with the Ku Klux Klan hate group.
However, the picture was fake. Users began sharing the image on Jan. 13 — the same day news media outlets reported Underwood would sing "America the Beautiful" at U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration.
Users shared and discussed the fake photo — whether in jest or not — on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Threads, TikTok and X. Users captioned their posts with the false claim the outfit would be her dress for Inauguration Day.
A reverse-image search located the original post from Jan. 13. A watermark for an X user's handle appeared on many of the aforementioned posts. That user originally captioned the image as, "Sneak preview of Carrie Underwood, having a few last minute alterations done on the one-of-a-kind exclusive designer dress she'll be wearing, when she sings 'America the Beautiful' at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration." The post received nearly 1 million views.
Around three hours after posting the image, the same user added in a reply, "(sigh)... since a lot more people than I ever imagined, actually think this is real, I'll issue the usual disclaimer: This is known as political satire/parody and it is NOT real. Thank you."
The furniture, mirrors, walls and columns visible in the backdrop of the photo resembled Kleinfeld Bridal — the New York bridal boutique popularized by the reality TV show "Say Yes to the Dress." We did not locate the original and unaltered picture, which likely showed the boutique's staff fitting a bride-to-be in a wedding dress.
For further reading, we previously reported about a false rumor claiming Underwood lost over 1.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify in one day, after the general public learned of her upcoming role for Inauguration Day.
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