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| - A rumor circulating online in December 2024 claimed that Barron Trump — the youngest son of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump — once helped a homeless man by handing him a $100 bill.
Snopes readers asked about this matter. For example, one person emailed us and submitted the topic: "Barron Trump helps a homeless man in Cleveland."
According to a Google search, the Elite Stories YouTube channel uploaded the earliest version of a video (archived) promoting the rumor. The Dec. 15 post's title read: "Homeless Man asks Barron Trump 'Can you give me 1$?' Trump's response is SHOCKING." The video had amassed more than 867,000 views as of this writing.
The narrator of the footage told a story taking place on a cold winter day in Cleveland. According to the rumor, a homeless Black man named Leonard asked Trump for $1. However, in return, Trump handed him a $100 bill. He also allegedly wrote down an address where, he advised Leonard, he could receive assistance in getting back on his feet. The story ended on an inspiring tone.
However, this story was not true. There were no records of any such interaction involving Trump and a homeless man.
In addition, a disclaimer featured in the YouTube video's description read: "The stories presented on this channel are entirely fictional and crafted solely for entertainment. Any resemblance to real events, individuals or situations is purely coincidental and unintentional. These narratives are not intended to depict, reference or represent any actual occurrences, persons or entities."
The video featured clues that it was created using one or more artificial intelligence tools to generate the script and audio, as well as the lone image displayed during the entirety of the footage. Speaking of the script, the narrator said the interaction between Trump and Leonard occurred at the corner of Broad Street and 17th Avenue — two streets that don't exist in Cleveland, according to Google Maps.
A reverse-image search for the Black man in the video's thumbnail image returned a result for a December 2017 story by the Courier-Journal newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky. The article identified the man as Bryon "Roc" Peeler.
The Courier-Journal newspaper published a 2017 article identifying the Black man in this thumbnail image as Bryon "Roc" Peeler, not "Leonard."
Further, other YouTube users posting subsequent clips promoting the same rumor posted videos featuring Leonard as a white man.
Snopes has addressed a similar claim made by Elite Stories before. In mid-December 2024, we fact-checked a rumor that tech entrepreneur Elon Musk went into a restaurant disguised as a homeless person to test how much people would judge him based on his appearance.
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