Jim Caviezel Goes Viral Over Fake Robert De Niro Feud

After an article falsely stated that actor Jim Caviezel refuses to work with Robert DeNiro because "he's an awful, ungodly man," the fake feud has gone viral online for a second time.

Caviezel, who is a devout Catholic, is an American actor who played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ and Tim Ballard in Sound of Freedom, which was a unexpected hit in 2023.

According to an article that appeared in satirical online newspaper the Dunning-Kruger Times on December 5, Caviezel rejected a part in an unidentified movie because he didn't want to work with De Niro. The article stated that Caviezel called De Niro "awful" and "ungodly" and said, "it gets really awkward talking to [De Niro] face-to-face knowing he's wearing 6-inch platform shoes."

The following day the article went viral when it was shared to X, formerly Twitter, by user @atensnut. While there is no credible news report that suggests Caviezel made this statement or turned down this alleged role, at the time of writing, the tweet had been viewed 1.8 million times.

Social media users have since debunked this tweet in the community notes section, which allows people on X to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading posts.

The note reads: "This screenshot is false news from an article in the Dunning-Kruger Times. The Dunning-Kruger Times is a satirical website which describes itself as a 'subsidiary of the America's Last Line of Defense network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery.'"

The article was originally debunked by Snopes, a fact-checking website, on December 6. The article said: "However, the story was not a recounting of real events. The Dunning-Kruger Times (along with the entire America's Last Line of Defense network) describes its output as being satire."

Even though it has been made clear numerous times now that the article is fake, it hasn't stopped it from going viral on X once again.

On December 24, X user @usanews0 posted a screenshot with the headline "'He's Awful and Ungodly' Jim Caviezel Refuses to Work with Robert DeNiro" and added: "Jim Caviezel refuses to work with 'Awful and Ungodly' Robert De Niro. What's Your Reaction?" People have used this opportunity to pile on Caviezel in the replies.

Newsweek reached out to a representative for De Niro via email and Caviezel via Instagram for comment Wednesday.

"Robert DeNiro has won two Oscars, is an eight-time Academy Award nominee, is a six-time BAFTA Award nominee, and is an eight-time Golden Globe Award nominee. He was among the five recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, presented by Barack Obama. Who the f*** is Jim Caviezel?" one person posted.

"Jim Caviezel saying he 'refuses' to work with Robert De Niro is like me saying I 'refuse' to date Angelina Jolie," another person said.

"De Niro is a name that will be known forever. Jim Caviezel is a name you can't even remember how to spell today," someone else wrote.

"Jim Caviezel refusing to work with Robert De Niro is like a 12-year-old Little Leaguer refusing to play baseball for the New York Yankees," a fourth said.

A fifth person added: "It's cute that Jim Caviezel thinks he'll ever be offered a role in a De Niro film."

Others have taken the opportunity to stand up for Caviezel, as well as point out the fact that the article is fake.

"If Jim Caviezel is trending, you know a bunch of progressive halfwits are going to show up & chime in with, 'Who is Jim Caviezel.' The very same galactic halfwits that spent months railing about the Sound of Freedom movie. The one that made 250 mil on a 14 mil budget. Bank it," one X user wrote.

Another added: "My reaction is that this story is totally made up, yet it's trending here because no one checks anything."

Caviezel is no stranger to being in headlines. In August, he threw his support behind an anti-abortion rally in Ohio, where an intense debate on whether the right to abort a pregnancy should be enshrined in the state constitution was underway.

In September, he revealed that he thinks former President Donald Trump is a lot like the biblical figure, King David. He said on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast: "I believe Donald Trump was selected by God almighty[...]he probably didn't think he was the best guy [to be president] or maybe he thought he was the best guy, because in my opinion, he's pretty great."

In October, Caviezel evoked Mel Gibson's famous battle cry from the movie Braveheart during a speech at a QAnon convention in Las Vegas.

While Caviezel is a Trump supporter, De Niro has long been an outspoken critic of the former president. The Oscar-winning actor branded him "evil" in a highly charged speech that was shared with attendees of an event aimed at stripping the Republican of his political power.

He had penned the speech ahead of a scheduled appearance at The New Republic's Stop Trump Summit in New York City in October. De Niro had been due to deliver the speech himself, but after testing positive for COVID-19, it was read out at the event by former Trump administration official Miles Taylor.