Call me naive, but I didn’t think the media literacy crisis was this bad.
We’ve officially gone from hyper-fake AI-generated Facebook videos swindling Boomers and beyond to simple quote posts on TikTok fooling thousands of people. I didn’t think society still needed a PSA reminding everyone not to believe everything they see on the internet, but unfortunately, Ella-Langley-mania appears to have clouded everyone’s judgment.
There’s no denying the 27-year-old country music star has exploded to an entirely new level this year thanks to her highly successful sophomore album Dandelion, and its reigning single “Choosin’ Texas,” which is challenging to spend over 20 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. But depending on which side of the internet you’re on, Langley has also surprisingly become a polarizing figure, with much of the recent discourse stemming from politics.
Those not a fan of the hitmaker (which I’m not sure how that’s even possible) have continued to spread all kinds of rumors online, from claims that she’s an “industry plant” to assumptions about her political beliefs. Many have attempted to label Langley as “MAGA” or uber-conservative, with speculation ramping up after fans discovered that she followed the Charlie Kirk Show’s TikTok account. Her following list has since been made private, but beyond that social media connection, Langley has largely kept her political views to herself publicly.
Still, that hasn’t stopped people online from pushing those narratives, and with Langley’s face practically everywhere right now, fans and critics alike seem willing to believe just about anything they see about her. Most recently, thousands appear to have fallen for an incredibly simple TikTok post that’s racked up more than 764K views.
There’s no video, interview clip, or article screenshot; the TikTok is simply just a grey background with white text claiming: “Ella Langley finally breaks her silence on MAGA allegations. ‘You show up to a pro-life rally one time and you’re public enemy number one. Can’t please ’em all I guess.”
That’s it. That’s the whole post. Yet it’s somehow garnered over 900 comments and nearly 30K likes, with people chiming in on Langley’s alleged stance. While the account looks like it’s attempting to pose as Ella with the username ‘Ella Langley Taylor,’ they fail to commit to the part with a profile picture of some random woman, a very odd bio, and two other random non-country music-related posts. As for where the claim originated, it appears to have stemmed from a post shared by a parody account on Twitter.
Still, before fact-checking whether this quote was actually true, people ran to the comments voicing their opinions on Langley being “Pro-life”:
Believe me when I say there are plenty more examples similar to the ones above with people falling for this post left and right. I’m still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor over the fact that the internet is this gullible.
Just so everyone’s on the same page: Ella Langley has never publicly stated her political views, nor has she ever publicly gone to a pro-life rally or even spoken about her opinion on the topic. While fans can continue speculating about who she voted for or what she believes politically, I think we all have better things to do, especially when it comes to mindlessly believing random quotes we stumble across on the internet.