Yahoo News Fact Check: Online Ad Claims TBN Canceled Mike Huckabee's TV Show After He Left to 'Pursue a Greater Purpose.' Here Are the Facts
Claim:
TBN canceled "Huckabee" in May 2024.
Rating:
On May 28, 2024, Snopes researched a false and scammy Facebook ad about former Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. According to the ad — which also was displayed to Instagram users — the former Arkansas governor abruptly left his weekend TV show, "Huckabee." His departure purportedly led the Christian, Texas-based Trinity Broadcasting Network with no choice but to cancel the program.
The false and scammy rumor appeared as a right-column Facebook ad with the words, "Huckabee Is Leaving TBN To Pursue A Greater Purpose."
The larger version of the same ad appearing in users' feeds read, "Huckabee Is Leaving TBN To Pursue A Greater Purpose. Americans are stunned." The ad also displayed the caption, "In a heart-wrenching address, Mike opened up about his health problems and the miracle that helped him turn his life around."
The Right Peace Facebook page hosted the ad in question. The "page transparency" tab on the Facebook page read, "Navigator Check LLC is responsible for this Page. This is a person or organization that has completed our verification process and claimed responsibility for this Page." The information displayed Navigator Check's location simply as "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15206." One purported U.S.-based page manager was mentioned in the "page transparency" tab.
According to Meta's ad library, the false Huckabee ad became active on April 9. In other words, it had been active for about 50 days, as of this writing.
The ad linked to navigatorcheck.com/four-things — which redirected to a fake Fox News article hosted on freshdailydrive.com. Scammers designed this article to resemble the layout of Fox News' website. The headline read, "'Huckabee' On TBN Is Officially Cancelled! He's Walking Away From His Own Show: His Reason Why Shared On Air."
Both the ad and article were part of a promotional ruse to fool users into believing Huckabee created and consumed a product named Fortin CBD Gummies to cure his "four-year battle" with an "autoimmune disease":
After months of searching, Mike was finally connected with a team of 10 world-renowned doctors running a clinical trial of a new supplement that was taking the health community by storm. It showed early signs of having significant abilities to stop the spread, and in some cases even reverse, many common diseases and ailments usually brought on by old age, like chronic pain. It was being billed as "the perfect daily supplement for anyone over 40 years old," and most importantly, it was now looking for a trustworthy and powerful investor to get it to the market. After trialing it himself with unbelieveable results, Huckabee bought the formula so he could get it into the hands of Americans as fast as possible.
…
Huckabee's product, Fortin CBD Gummies, has been selling like hotcakes, with stocks depleting within minutes. He admits that his main challenge as CEO is meeting the overwhelming demand. His CBD wellness line is not only 90% cheaper but also five times more effective than similar offerings from Bayer and other "Big Pharma" companies. And after seeing a massive decline in their sales, Bayer started calling for Huckabee's company to halt operations, saying:
"We're happy Mr. Huckabee found something to replace opioids, pain killers, and save American lives but his company is engaging in unacceptable business practices. He must cease production immediately and stop offering Fortin CBD Gummies to the public."
To be clear, no celebrity or TV personality has endorsed "miracle" CBD gummies supposedly able to "instantly cure chronic pain anywhere in the body" — a claim made in the false and scammy article.
Snopes previously reported on similar, misleading "celebrity endorsements" of CBD gummies and keto gummies. Such rumors have targeted Fox News host Dana Perino, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk and ABC News' chief health and medical correspondent, Dr. Jennifer Ashton.
Sources:
Liles, Jordan. "Dana Perino Is Leaving Fox News' 'The Five' Due to 'Tensions' with Sean Hannity?" Snopes, 21 May 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/dana-perino-leaving-the-five/.
---. "Fox News Canceled Laura Ingraham's Show After Sponsors Threatened Network with Lawsuits?" Snopes, 8 May 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/fox-canceled-ingraham-angle/.
