The False Rumor About Karoline Leavitt & Barbra Streisand People Fell For

Do you stand with Barbra Streisand? If you do, you might be feeling a need to protect her against a certain blonde bombshell press secretary for the White House. But there's really no need. In September 2025, a report began to spread that the Brooklyn-born singer and actor had filed a $50 million lawsuit against Karoline Leavitt after they got into a fight on live television, but that appears to be completely bogus. The myth-debunking website Snopes looked into the supposed altercation but could not find any legitimate evidence to support the claims.

The story gained headwind from a since-deleted (but later replicated) Facebook post that screamed in the headline, "YOU WERE BEATEN — PAY NOW!" — Barbra Streisand sues Karoline Leavitt and Network for $50 MILLION after shocking live attack. No one saw it coming." That post linked out to an article that provided further details. According to the made-up encounter, Leavitt interviewed Streisand after the latter performed at a charity concert, but it quickly turned into a personal attack when Leavitt accused her of hypocrisy.

However, this entire story stunk like weeks-old fish. Based on Snopes' research, the Facebook accounts sharing this story have a history of propagating false news and AI-generated images. Plus, the text was run through AI detectors, which turned up a reasonable chance that it was at least partly AI-generated. Furthermore, its lack of non-specific and reality-bending details are a dead giveaway. After all, why would the White House press secretary be interviewing anyone, let alone Streisand? Plus, it is never specified where the interview aired, as it was instead just vaguely referred to as a "network."

This is not the first time that Karoline Leavitt has gotten caught up in controversy or been targeted by similar rumor-mongering, including the debunked claims that she debated Stephen Colbert on "The Late Show" and that she sparred with R&B legend Patti LaBelle. Snopes made sure to mention in its breakdown, "Were this story true, it would have been widely covered by mainstream news outlets." But that statement might ironically explain why this rumor spread as far as it has, considering the breakdown of trust in traditional news outlets in in the 21st century.

As for Barbra Streisand, this fictional lawsuit isn't even the weirdest one she's been involved in, and it's certainly far from the saddest thing that's ever happened to her. Back in 2003, she sued photographer Kenneth Adelman for violation of privacy following the publication of a photo he had taken of her cliffside home in Malibu. Not only did she fail to win the lawsuit, but the publicity surrounding the case also led to increased traffic on the site where the photo was published. Now, an attempt to hide information that unintentionally increases public awareness of that information is known as the "Streisand effect." This begs the question: Will we eventually talk about a "Leavitt effect," where an attempt to trick people with AI actually boosts awareness of Streisand's charitable efforts?