Says Keanu Reeves gave a speech that began, "I cannot be part of a world where men dress their wives as prostitutes by showing everything that should be cherished ..."
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A Facebook fan page has attributed a long quote to Keanu Reeves, but there's no evidence he said it. (Getty Images)
Keanu Reeves did not give long speech attributed to him online, publicist says
A lengthy quote attributed to Keanu Reeves doesn’t appear to have come from the actor at all, but rather a fan page for him on Facebook.
The rambling quote admonishes essentially anyone who mistreats, objectifies, ignores, takes advantage of or otherwise abuses someone else:
"I cannot be part of a world where men dress their wives as prostitutes by showing everything that should be cherished," the diatribe began. "Where there is no concept of honor and dignity, and one can only rely on those when they say ‘I promise.’ Where women do not want children, and men don’t want a family. Where the suckers believe themselves to be successful behind the wheel of their fathers’ cars, and a father who has a little bit of power is trying to prove to you that you’re a nobody."
And on and on; In other words, be excellent to each other. You can read it all for yourself, but we first saw the quote in an April 26, 2017, post on BestThings.us. Facebook users flagged the post as being potentially fake, as part of the social media site’s efforts to combat fabricated news.
The same quote has appeared on several other websites, going back to 2016, always attributed to Reeves. It even appeared on an English-language Pakistani newspaper’s website.
We also found the quote attributed to him in a Russian-language video that appears to show him saying it (we used the translated captions) — but it actually shows him talking about a Paul Gauguin exhibit in Switzerland. Another video example used a computerized voice to recite the quote.
It’s also appeared on Facebook. And we mean, it’s appeared all over Facebook, again credited to Reeves.
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But while that seems like a deep message from the guy who played John Wick, we can’t find any record of Reeves saying it.
As best we can tell, the quote’s association with Reeves came from a Facebook fan page called "Keanu Reeves - the actor." The page posted the quote, wherever they got it from, on Feb. 21, 2016. The page’s About section said Reeves was allowed to post on the page or moderate as he saw fit. There was no contact information.
But Reeves’ publicist, Cheryl Maisel of talent agency PMK-BNC, said the actor had no affiliation with the page.
"Keanu does not participate in any form of social media," she said via email. "This Facebook page is fake."
Maisel told us she had the entire fan page removed from Facebook.
It wouldn’t be the first time a famous person was misquoted on the Internet, of course. And Reeves knows a little something about being on the Internet.
But he wasn’t The One who made this protracted speech. We rate this statement Pants On Fire!
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Our Sources
BestThings.us, "Keanu Reeves Shock The World With Another Powerful Message," April 26, 2017
Keanu Reeves Facebook fan page, Internet post, Feb. 21, 2016
Interview with Cheryl Maisel, Reeves publicist, June 12, 2017
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Keanu Reeves did not give long speech attributed to him online, publicist says
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