It's False that these celebrities have moved to other countries after the 2024 election

What do musicians John Legend and Bruce Springsteen have in common with actors Robert Downey Jr., Tom Hanks, and Robert De Niro? All of them have been mentioned in social media posts claiming they are leaving the country following the 2024 election.

Although these artists have expressed support for Vice President and former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, none of them has publicly announced plans to leave the country.

Nevertheless, social media posts declare otherwise.

"BREAKING NEWS: Tom Hanks Withdraws Oscar Nominations and Leaves U.S.: ‘I’ve Had Enough’" a Nov. 22 Facebook post said. 

 (Screenshot of the Facebook post.)

"LATEST NEWS: Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. Abandons New Marvel Movie Project (AVENGERS: Doomsday) to Leave the US After Failure to Support BLUE WAVE: ‘Bye, I'm Out,’" a Nov. 20 Facebook post said.

(Screenshot of the Facebook post.)

We saw similar Facebook headlines about singers Legend and Springsteen, and actor De Niro.

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish were the subject of similar claims, which we rated False. Each of the artists named in these social media posts supported Harris during the campaign, but PolitiFact found no credible news stories reporting that any of these celebrities left the U.S. after the election. There is also no evidence that these artists have ceded any awards or nominations. Here’s what we know about each of them.

Robert Downey Jr.: The actor who played Iron Man in Marvel’s "Avengers" movies, joined a call organized by his co-star Mark Ruffalo, who played the Hulk, to support Harris along with other "Avengers" co-stars. Downey Jr. posted the video of the call on his Instagram account.

The post about Downey Jr. also claims that he "abandons new Marvel movie project," but there’s no evidence to support that. The Walt Disney Co. said in July that the actor will soon be playing Doctor Doom, another "Avengers" character.

John Legend: The singer publicly supported Harris in the 2024 election. In a September 2020 interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, he commented on the idea of leaving the country, saying, "Every once in a while, you think about it." He also said, "It would be hard to leave. But I don’t know what one’s supposed to do when you have a leader who is trying to destroy democracy." Although one post said Legend "refuses" a Grammy nomination, we found no news coverage confirming that. Legend was nominated for two 2025 Grammys — for Best Children's Music Album for "My Favorite Dream" and Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella for "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Jacob Collier featuring Legend and singer Tori Kelly. 

Featured Fact-check

Instagram posts

stated on October 27, 2024 in an Instagram post

Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz “says that if Democrats win they’ll make (U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) speaker of the house.”

However, there is no evidence that he turned that comment into a real plan.

Tom Hanks: The actor joined a Sept. 25 conversation along with filmmaker Ken Burns organized by the Harris campaign for fundraising purposes. Hanks also urged people to vote. Back in January 2021, Hanks hosted Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration concert.

The post mentioning Hanks also claimed he "withdraws Oscar nominations," but Oscar nominations for the 2025 ceremony, which will take place March 2, 2025, won’t be announced until Jan. 17, 2025. Therefore, Hanks couldn’t have withdrawn any nominations.

Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen endorsed Harris and performed at a Harris rally in Atlanta. In 2020, he joked about planning to leave the country if Trump was re-elected, but he has not announced any real plans to do so.

Robert De Niro: DeNiro, who has been publicly critical of Trump, in early November said of Harris, "(She’s) the only answer at this point, obviously, but she happens to be a great answer."

Some of these claims originated on pages that self-identified as satire. We found a post with the same claim about Hanks that included a note stating that it’s satire. It also linked to an article that described itself as satire.

Links in the comments of a couple of the Facebook posts lead to a page called Luxury Blog, which has published information that PolitiFact has rated False. The website lacks an "about us" section and lists no author biographies. 

We rate these celebrities have announced leaving the U.S. following the 2024 election claims False.