Back to Africa Check

Samuel L Jackson quote on overpaid rappers and underpaid teachers is fake

“Maybe if we under-paid these modern mumble rappers and over-paid teachers, we'd have smarter kids and less shi**y music,” reads a screenshot of what seems to be US actor and film producer Samuel L Jackson’s Twitter bio.

The image has been widely shared on Facebook in Kenya and South Africa.

But it’s fake.



Many different versions of quote


There are number of screenshots showing similar messages from Jackson out there. Interestingly, all differ.

One concludes with “smarter kids and less shi**y music” while another uses “smarter people in the future and less shitty music”.

The screenshots feature different portraits of Jackson in the profile pic. One posted on Imgur even shows him in the company of fellow actors John Travolta and Phil LaMarron on the set of the movie Pulp Fiction in 1994.

Quote not in Jackson’s Twitter account


Then there’s the format of screenshots. In some versions, the text appears in bold and in a different font to the one used by Twitter.

If Jackson did write the quote on his Twitter bio, why are screenshots of it all so different?

Jackson’s verified Twitter account @SamuelLJackson has been online since September 2009.

Africa Check searched all 3,415 tweets on the account and could not find the quote.

US fact-checking site Snopes also investigated the quote and concluded it was a hoax. – Dancan Bwire (23/04/19)

Republish our content for free

We believe that everyone needs the facts.

You can republish the text of this article free of charge, both online and in print. However, we ask that you pay attention to these simple guidelines. In a nutshell:

1. Do not include images, as in most cases we do not own the copyright.

2. Please do not edit the article.

3. Make sure you credit "Africa Check" in the byline and don't forget to mention that the article was originally published on africacheck.org.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa Check teams up with Facebook

Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.

The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.

You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.