Oprah Didn’t Block a Tsunami Escape Route
PLUS: California Wildfire Fundraiser Not a ‘Democrat Scam;’ Ukrainian Refugees Falsely Blamed for French Divorces; Please Don’t Stare at the Sun
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In today’s edition, we debunk the claim that Oprah Winfrey endangered local residents responding to a tsunami in Hawaii warning by refusing to open a private road on her estate in Maui to evacuees. We also unpack a new Russian propaganda claim that Ukrainian women refugees are responsible for 64 percent of divorces in France because of adulterous affairs with French men. And we examine the reemergence of a decades-old alternative health “cure” that dangerously recommends staring into the sun to improve eyesight.
Plus: NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
1. No, Oprah Did Not Block a Tsunami Escape Route in Maui; She Did the Opposite
By Hope Talbot
What happened: Conservative social media users are claiming that Oprah Winfrey impeded people from seeking higher ground during the July 29 tsunami warnings in Hawaii by refusing to open a private road on her Maui estate.
Context: On July 29, Maui County issued an evacuation order after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck the eastern coast of Russia, urging residents to evacuate inland to higher ground.
A closer look: Shortly after the evacuation order was issued, social media accounts claimed that Winfrey refused to open a private road on her estate that would enable residents to reach higher ground.
Pro-MAGA X user @Bubblebathgirl stated: “Oprah won’t open her private road from Wailea to Kula, Hawaii, which would make it much easier for locals to get to higher ground. MASSIVE Traffic in Maui with thousands trying to escape the massive Tsunami coming. OPEN THE ROAD OPRAH.” The post garnered 920,000 views and 7,200 likes in one day.
Conservative user @MattWallace888 stated on X, “Oprah is still refusing to let residents use her private road in Hawaii to evacuate faster from the Tsunami warnings.” The post received 578,400 views and 6,900 likes in two days.
Actually: Police and a Winfrey spokesperson confirmed that the road was open for evacuations.
A July 29 police statement posted to the Maui County government website hours after the first evacuation alerts were issued stated that “Oprah’s road” was open for evacuation efforts.
In a statement to CNN, Winfrey’s unnamed spokesperson said that Winfrey’s team contacted FEMA and local law enforcement as soon as it heard the tsunami warnings. “Local law enforcement is currently on site, helping residents through 50 cars at a time to ensure everyone’s safe,” the spokesperson said.
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2. False Claim of the Week: The Missing $100 Million Raised for Victims of the 2025 Southern California Wildfires by California Charity FireAid
NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week” highlights a false claim from NewsGuard’s False Claim Fingerprints proprietary database of provably false claims and their debunks. The claim that the $100 million raised for victims of the 2025 Southern California wildfires by California charity FireAid has gone missing was deemed the “False Claim of the Week” due to its widespread appearance across social media platforms and websites, its high engagement levels, and the high-profile nature of the sources promoting it, including President Trump. Given those three factors — in addition to its significant subject matter — and its potential for harm makes it our False Claim of the Week.
Debunk: Trump Boosts Bogus Claim that Charity for Wildfire Victims Was a ‘Democrat Scam’
What happened: Conservatives, including President Donald Trump, are falsely claiming that $100 million raised by the FireAid benefit concert for victims of the January 2025 California wildfires is missing in a “Democrat inspired scam.”
Context: Devastating wildfires swept across Southern California in January 2025, leaving at least 29 people dead, and causing $164 billion in property damage and capital losses, according to a February 2025 UCLA report.
On Jan. 30, 2025, California charity FireAid hosted a benefit concert featuring music artists, including Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder, to raise money for the victims. The concert raised $100 million, according to ABC News.
A closer look: Suspicion over the funds emerged after former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who appeared on the show “The Hills,” posted a TikTok video on May 24 about FireAid with the caption, “Where is the 100 million dollars ????!!” Pratt did not provide evidence of any missing funds. The claim reemerged in July 2025, when Trump raised the issue on Truth Social.
Trump wrote in a July 25 Truth Social post: “‘FIREAID’ IS A TOTAL DISASTER. Looks LIKE ANOTHER DEMOCRAT INSPIRED SCAM. 100 MILLION DOLLARS IS MISSING.” The post received 31,600 likes and 9,000 reposts in three days. Trump later told reporters that he had referred the matter to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Conservative commentator and comedian Kevin Dalton said in an apparently sarcastic July 27 X post: “[California Gov.] Gavin Newsom is going to look into the missing $100 million from FireAid, right after he finds the $100 billion from the High Speed Rail, the $37 billion from homelessness, the $40 billion for affordable housing, the $5 billion for water storage, and the $500 million to stop the flow of raw sewage from Mexico.” The post received 1.1 million views and 19,000 likes in one day.
Actually: The funds are not “missing,” according to the charity and reporting from the Los Angeles Times.
In a statement reacting to Trump’s post, FireAid provided a list of nonprofits and charities it said had collectively received about $75 million in grant money from the charity. “The grants have been distributed to more than 160 frontline nonprofits, schools, and local organizations,” FireAid stated, adding that investment bank Goldman Sachs vetted these organizations.
FireAid also said that it would distribute the remaining $25 million raised by the concert by the end of 2025, adding that accounting firm KPMG will audit its activities after all funds have been distributed.
The Los Angeles Times reported in July 2025 that over 100 organizations had received FireAid funds. Executives at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, The Change Reaction, Team Rubicon, YMCA Los Angeles, and numerous other organizations confirmed their receipt of funds from FireAid. There are no reports or evidence that any of the funds are missing.
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3. Ukrainian Women Refugees Are Falsely Accused of Spiking French Divorce Rates by Having Affairs with Married Men
By Alice Lee
What happened: A Russian malign influence campaign is gaining traction with its latest absurd claim: that 64 percent of divorces in France are due to husbands cheating with Ukrainian women refugees.
A closer look: Social media users are sharing images of three purported articles by major French newspapers supposedly reporting that French men having affairs with Ukrainian refugees are the cause of 64 percent of the year’s divorces.
One image, supposedly showing a news article by French newspaper Le Figaro, stated, “In 2025 alone, more than 64% of divorces in France were caused by secret relationships between husbands and Ukrainian refugees.” The other images impersonated articles from French newspapers Libération and Le Parisien.
Multiple Telegram channels that regularly spread claims originating from the Russian influence campaign Matryoshka shared the fabricated French articles and said in Russian: “The institution of marriage in France is under threat. 64% of divorces due to infidelity are caused by husbands having affairs with Ukrainian refugees.”
Actually: The three news articles are fake, and the claim is baseless.
NewsGuard did not find any evidence of these reports in any of the three outlets’ websites or social media channels. Le Figaro deputy editorial director Benjamin Ferran told NewsGuard in a July 2025 email: “This is obviously fake. We have never published this information on our website.” Libération and Le Parisien did not respond to NewsGuard’s request for comment.
There are no credible reports about the presence of Ukrainian refugees in France leading to more divorces. NewsGuard could not find any recent studies about the causes of divorce in France.
Where it originated: The fabricated news reports match tactics used by Matryoshka, a Russian influence operation that publishes bogus reports mimicking credible Western media outlets to spread false claims about Ukraine.
NewsGuard reported in March that since 2018, our analysts had found that the Matryoshka campaign has created at least 63 videos and images impersonating reliable media organizations to advance pro-Russian falsehoods.
Russian influence campaigns have repeatedly spread false claims about Ukrainian refugees in an apparent effort to undermine support for them, particularly in countries that have welcomed many refugees since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Previous false Matryoshka narratives reported by NewsGuard include the claim that Ukrainian refugees set fire to a Polish warehouse in April 2024 and that Ukrainian refugees threw a pig’s head wrapped in a Palestinian flag through the window of a Berlin mosque in July 2024.
4. Hoax Cure for Poor Eyesight from the 1920s Makes a Dangerous Comeback
By Andie Slomka
What happened: Health hoaxers are promoting the reckless and long-debunked myth that staring directly at the sun can miraculously cure poor eyesight.