A rumor circulating online in late April 2025 claimed internet users “caught” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on a C-SPAN hot mic telling U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Tex., who is Black, “Go back to Africa.”

One Snopes reader asked in an email, “Did Karoline Leavitt mutter ‘Go back to Africa’ in response to a comment made by Jasmine Crockett?” Another reader inquired, “Did Karoline Leavitt say ‘go back to Africa’ under her breath to Jasmine Crockett during Congressional hearing?”

However, the rumor was false. News media outlets worldwide would have reported it if any such event had taken place. Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no such reports.

The claim originated with YouTube creators publishing videos on their channels that featured scripting and voice narration generated by artificial-intelligence (AI) tools. Some of those channels’ managers had previously uploaded other videos falsely claiming Attorney General Pam Bondi — or simply a “racist woman” — told Crockett to “Go back to Africa.”

The White House and Crockett’s staff have yet to respond to emails asking if they wished to share a statement about the false rumor.

How the Leavitt-Crockett rumor started

The false rumor possibly originated on the YouTube channel DP Insights. On April 25, a manager of the channel posted a video (archived) titled, “Karoline Leavitt INSULTS Jasmine Crockett ‘Go Back to Africa’—But Her Response Shocks All Of America.”

The first second of the video — a quick moment possibly easily missed by some viewers — featured a disclaimer reading, in part, “This story is not intended to depict, reference or represent any actual occurrences, persons or entities.” Another disclaimer found at the bottom of the video’s text description — a section most viewers likely don’t see — read, in part, “The stories presented on this channel are entirely fictional and crafted solely for entertainment.”

The video featured a single image collage showing a photo of Leavitt next to a picture of Crockett. The AI-generated narrator, reading from an AI-generated script, told the story of Leavitt muttering “Go back to Africa” to Crockett, supposedly during a congressional hearing at the Kansas Statehouse (not in Washington).

In the story, Leavitt makes the “Go back to Africa” remark without realizing her microphone is on. Moments later, she understands the mic picked up the comment, and that C-SPAN broadcast her words live. Crockett waits to respond to Leavitt’s remark later, choosing a quiet and measured approach.

The AI-generated narrator ends the story by saying, “The truth is, this wasn’t a story about a scandal. It was a story about a choice — a choice to speak up without screaming, to teach without shaming, to respond without reducing someone else to a mistake. In a time when everyone’s expected to take sides, Jasmine chose something different. She chose clarity over noise. And that choice — it left an impression far deeper than outrage ever could.”

The video ended on a feel-good, inspiring tone. Publishers refer to such stories as glurge, a word defined by Dictionary.com as “stories, often sent by email, that are supposed to be true and uplifting, but which are often fabricated and sentimental.”

The DP Insights channel also hosted a previously-posted video (archived) featuring the made-up rumor, “Racist Woman Tells Jasmine Crockett ‘Go Back to Africa’—Her Response Leaves the Crowd Speechless!” The owner or owners of the channel simply used the same basic story with different characters, likely in the hopes of garnering more YouTube subscribers, views and advertising revenue. The channel’s bio, claiming France as its manager’s country of residence, did not include a contact method.

The claim spread rapidly via social media

In the days that following the DP Insights channel’s video, numerous users then shared the rumor on dozens of YouTube channels, as well as on Bluesky (archived), Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok (archived) and X (archived). One TikTok user split the video into five different clips, in total receiving close to 2 million views.

A Snopes reader also asked in late April if Bondi, not Leavitt, said the words to Crockett, inquiring, “Did Pam Bondi tell Jasmine Crockett to go back to Africa?” A search for this similarly-false rumor located a popular YouTube video with over 438,000 views. The video (archived), published on the Mr. Noah’s Stories YouTube channel, displayed the title, “Pam Bondi INSULTS Jasmine Crockett: ‘Go back to Africa’—But Her Response Shocks All Of America.”

For further reading, a previous fact-check article examined the false rumor claiming Leavitt said, “Avoid woke things like math, and you’ll love the tariffs.” The DP Insights channel’s manager also previously promoted a story featuring the untrue claim that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett tried to jail Crockett.