A story shared online told of the former NFL quarterback becoming “stone-faced” after a late night talk show host made a cruel joke.

Image courtesy of Magic Clement/Facebook

A rumor that circulated online in June 2025 claimed users virally shared a video from a talk show, showing five-time NFL Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning refusing to laugh at a cruel joke about a person dealing with obesity. According to the story, Manning instead looked into the camera and delivered remarks defending people living with the medical condition.

For example, on June 3, a user managing the Magic Clement Facebook page posted (archived) the story. The post received thousands of likes and shares, and showed a picture of Manning, who retired from the NFL in 2016, staring into the camera with a serious facial expression. The story in the post described the expression as “stone-faced.” The photo depicted an unidentified host seated to Manning’s right and an unusually short man to his left. The story began, “Peyton Manning Refused to Laugh at a Cruel Joke—Millions Are Thanking Him Today.”

(Magic Clement/Facebook)

However, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no news media outlets reporting on any such viral video of Manning addressing a mean talk show joke. Rather, the Magic Clement Facebook page hosts dozens, if not hundreds, of fabricated stories about Manning performing inspiring acts of kindness. While it’s possible Manning declined to laugh at some talk show jokes in the past, the entirety of the story told by Magic Clement, laid out later in this article, amounted to fiction.

An examination of the Magic Clement page’s stories found multiple indications of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images and text. For example, in the image of the “stone-faced” Manning, the Sightengine AI-detection website found a 99% probability of someone “likely” generating the photo with AI. Manning’s face appears unusually shiny and smooth — one of many signs of potential AI-generated images. The man seated to Manning’s left is unusually short, meaning the AI tool made a mistake in his physical placement in the shot. The woman over Manning’s left shoulder displays an unnatural glare with her eyes similar to other AI-generated images investigated for past fact checks. Also, a reverse-image search using Google Lens found no credible record of the same image appearing anywhere other than on users’ Facebook feeds — an unreliable source for finding credible news.

Snopes contacted a manager of the Magic Clement Facebook page to ask about their usage of AI for images and text. Via Messenger, one of the page’s managers responded, “I sometimes use writing tools to help structure or enhance storytelling, but the intention is always to capture the spirit and character of the individuals involved — not to mislead. The focus is on inspiration and positive values, especially when it comes to well-respected figures like Peyton Manning.” They also said, regarding a different fabricated story about Manning calming a crying baby on a flight, “It was posted in the spirit of admiration for Peyton Manning’s character, but I fully acknowledge that it may be apocryphal.”

These stories all very much resemble glurge, which Dictionary.com defines as “stories, often sent by email, that are supposed to be true and uplifting, but which are often fabricated and sentimental.”

The full text of the fictional story

The Magic Clement Facebook page told the fake story of Manning’s inspirational talk show appearance as follows:

Peyton Manning Refused to Laugh at a Cruel Joke—Millions Are Thanking Him Today

It was supposed to be just another lighthearted talk show segment.
Laughs. Jokes. Applause.

But then… the host made a comment.
A “joke” aimed at someone struggling with obesity.

The audience chuckled—some nervously, others louder.
The camera panned to the guest couch.

Peyton Manning sat still.
Stone-faced.

He didn’t smile.
He didn’t clap.

Instead, he turned to the host, then looked straight into the camera—live, in front of millions—and calmly said:

“Someone out there just heard that joke… and felt like they were less than human.
That’s not funny to me.”

The studio fell quiet.
Even the host looked caught off guard.

But Peyton didn’t stop there.

“You never know what someone’s going through.
How hard they’re trying.
What they’ve survived just to walk into a room.
So I don’t laugh at pain. I don’t laugh at shame.
And I won’t laugh at this.”

No applause sign needed—because the crowd erupted.
Not with laughter—but with respect.

The clip went viral overnight.
Millions reposted it.
Thousands commented: “Thank you for saying what so many needed to hear.”

Because at that moment, Peyton didn’t just defend dignity.
He restored it.

For further reading, Snopes previously reported on another story claiming Manning left a gala in a tuxedo to sit on the floor with a crying 9-year-old boy named Dylan.