Fact Check

Did Obama award Weinstein, Weiner, Clinton and Cosby with Medal of Freedom? Fact Check

An image spreading online claims to show President Obama handing out the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Bill Clinton, Bill Cosby, Anthony Weiner and Harvey Weinstein.

All men have at some point been accused or convicted of sexual misconduct.

MOSTLY FALSE

An example of the image can be seen below.

I didn’t know there was a sexual predactor award…
Thanks democrats

Only the photo showing Obama giving the medal to Bill Clinton is genuine. The photos depicting Anthony Weiner, Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein are all fake. Both Weiner and Weinstein have never been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Cosby has, but was the award was presented to him before Obama was president.

The first photo shows Bill Clinton being awarded the medal by President Obama. This is genuine, and it was awarded in 2013.


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The second photo showing Weinstein is doctored. It actually shows Obama presenting the award to his then vice-president Joe Biden in 2017. The genuine photo is below.

The third photo showing Anthony Weiner receiving the award is a doctored photo of actor Tom Hanks receiving the award in 2016. The real photo is below.

The final photo claiming to show Bill Cosby receiving the award is also doctored, and originally showed singer Bruce Springsteen receiving the award in 2016. The real photo is below.

While neither Weiner or Weinstein have ever received this award, Bill Cosby actually has. However it was not bestowed upon him by President Obama, but by his predecessor George Bush Jr. in 2002. A photo of him receiving the medal is below.

As such, we rank this claim mostly false since the only genuine photo is of Bill Clinton receiving the award.

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Published by
Craig Haley