A photo of US actor Keanu Reeves surrounded by dozens of cats has been shared thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook alongside a claim that he saved cats from being euthanised during his travels around the world.
The claim is false; the photo has been doctored to include Reeves; versions of the photo without Reeves have circulated online since at least 2012.
The doctored photo was shared in this Facebook post on April 16, 2019, by a page with more than 15,000 followers.
It has been shared more than 37,000 times.
The Portuguese language caption translates to English as: “American actor Keanu Reeves has saved many cats from euthanasia. During his trips all over the world, every time when he finds a cat in life-threatening danger he would take it with him to the US. All cats have been sterilised and vaccinated and currently live in a shelter all for themselves.”
Below is a screenshot of the post:
The claim is false; the photo has been doctored to include Reeves.
A reverse image search on Google found the same image without Reeves published in this tweet on June 24, 2012.
Below is a screenshot of the tweet:
Another reverse image search found the photo of Reeves in the doctored image was taken from a separate photo of him sitting on a park bench. The photo was published here by Los Angeles based entertainment website E! News on June 15, 2010.
The photo is credited to Ron Asadorian, a photographer for Los Angeles-based entertainment news agency Splash News.
Below is a screenshot of the report:
