Yahoo News Fact Check: Rumor Claims Keanu Reeves Said, 'I'm At That Stage in Life Where I Stay Out of Discussions.' Here's the Truth
Claim:
Keanu Reeves once said, "I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you’re right. Have fun."
Rating:
On June 19, 2024, the Mind Essentials (@Mind_Essentials) account on X posted (archived) a quote meme claiming actor Keanu Reeves once said, "I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right. Have fun."
As with many humble and inspirational quotes appearing in memes, it's entirely possible Reeves and other actors might agree with the sentiment expressed in the image. However, we found no documentation in the form of text, audio or video confirming Reeves ever said these words.
We contacted a representative for Reeves to ask about the misattributed quote. We will update this story if we receive any responses to this inquiry or other inquiries detailed later in this article.
In this story, we'll present the apparent origins of the quote from early 2021 and provide links to some of the most popular posts featuring the same words.
The Oldest Posts
On Jan. 31, 2021, X user @Nnai_na posted a quote similar to the one shared with Reeves' name. The post displayed quotation marks around the quote, meaning the user may have intended to quote an unnamed person. The post did not include Reeves' name.
The quote read, "I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of unnecessary conversations/discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're absolutely right, have fun."
According to a search of X, this post featured the oldest known text similar to that of the quote in question. We contacted the user via a message on X to ask if where the quote came from — that is, if the user didn't come up with the quote — but did not yet receive a response.
February 2021
On Feb. 2, 2021, Reddit user u/ScorchedMagic created a new post in the r/quotes subreddit. The title of the post read, "'I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun.' - Keanu Reeves."
Two minutes later, a user with the handle @MGWVhaiku posted on X, "'I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun.' - Keanu Reeves #quote."
Then, a little over an hour after the Reddit and X posts, X user @rsalecha posted a meme featuring a photo of Reeves alongside the quote.
The meme displayed a credit line to the website dogwithblog.in. We did not locate a past posting of the meme in our search of social media pages associated with dogwithblog.in. We emailed the website's owners to ask if they remember any helpful details about the origins of the quote but did not yet receive a response.
Popular Posts
According to a search of social media platforms, X user @creation247 created the most engaged-with post featuring Reeves with the "I'm at that stage in life" quote. The user created the post on Nov. 19, 2022. The post received over 1,600 reposts and 9,000 likes.
An August 2023 post from X user @OutlawsPoetic received more than 1,300 reposts and 5,900 likes, while a September 2023 post from @wealth_director displayed over 330 reposts and 1,200 likes.
Another X user, @TheManMakerx, posted the quote with Reeves' name in November 2021. In June 2024, one skeptical user with the handle @sirui_ma replied to @TheManMakerx's post with, "Does anyone have a link to the interview where this quote is from?" As of this writing, @sirui_ma had not received any answers.
Our online searches found additional posts featuring the misattributed quote on Facebook, iFunny.co, Instagram, LinkedIn, Medium.com and TikTok, and in at least one YouTube comment.
Further searches of the vast book library on Google Books and newspaper archives hosted by Newspapers.com produced no helpful results.
Sources:
"Advanced Search." X.com, https://x.com/search-advanced.
Google. https://www.google.com/.
