Crocodile crock: This isn’t a real image of Elton John in a MAGA jacket

An image of musician Elton John appears to show him wearing an oversized pair of pink sunglasses, a pink gingham shirt and a pink jacket adorned with pink feathers — or fur? — and four big white letters: MAGA.

"Just found out Elton John has publicly supported Trump," a Sept. 7 Threads post sharing the image said.

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This image isn’t real, nor has John put his star power behind MAGA, or "Make America Great Again," former President Donald Trump’s slogan during the 2016 presidential campaign. 

"The photo circulating online is definitely not Elton John," Jessica Sciacchitano, a spokesperson for John, told PolitiFact. "And he has never worn a MAGA jacket." 

A reverse-image search led us only to social media posts sharing the picture; we found no credible original sources that had published it. 

Some people commenting on the Threads post seemed to know the image was bogus.

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stated on August 30, 2024 in a post

"Samsung drops out of $1 billion advertising campaign with Olympics."

"This is clearly AI generated," one person said. 

But others weren’t so sure. 

"Is this real?" someone else said.

The post followed a video shared Sept. 7 by Variety, which reported that John thought it was "brilliant" when Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jon Un "Little Rocket Man." ("Rocket Man" is the title of a 1972 John song.)

"I just thought, ‘Good on you, Donald,’" John said in the video. "Donald’s always been a fan of mine and he’s been to my concerts many, many times. So, I mean, I’ve always been friendly toward him and I thank him for his support. When he did that, I just thought it was hilarious. It made me laugh." 

Variety reported that John also said it’s none of his business how his fans vote but that he said "America is in a very volatile position." 

"I just want people to vote for things that are just, things that are important to people: the right to choose, the right to be who you are, and not let anybody else tell you who to be. And that goes all the way up to the Supreme Court," John said. "I just hope that people make the right decision to see what the future is going to be. Is it going to be fire and brimstone … or are we going to have a much calmer, a much safer place? People can vote for who they like, but as far as I’m concerned, I love love. And I’m a loving person and I want that to come back to America. I feel it’s been lost in the last 12 years." 

We rate claims John was photographed wearing a MAGA jacket False.