Claim: Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo, his mother Angelica, and his girlfriend Chloe Anjeleigh San Jose have posted on X (formerly Twitter) about their reported family feud, following his historic wins at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Why we fact-checked this: Several Facebook pages have posted the fake screenshots. The most popular post has garnered 176,000 reactions, 35,500 comments, and 19,400 shares as of writing.
The screenshots show the parties involved making disparaging comments about each other. Each post shows an X handle at the top but its bottom part is similar in format to a Facebook post, showing the number of reactions, comments, and shares.
A post supposedly from Angelica Yulo reads: “Hindi niya deserve ang suporta ko at matawag na anak. Olympics Champion ka nga, pero di kami proud.” (He doesn’t deserve my support or to be called awe are not proud.)
Another supposed post from Carlos praised Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion, adding that his own mother Angelica does not believe in him.
Meanwhile, a post supposedly by San Jose shows her criticizing Angelica for agreeing to be interviewed about the family’s issues instead of congratulating her son.
The facts: While Carlos’ and San Jose’s X handles shown in the screenshots are genuine, neither account posted the statements being circulated online. Furthermore, the supposed X handle for Carlos’ mother does not exist.
Some of the X posts urged social media users to click a link supposedly leading to the original posts by the Yulos and San Jose. However, according to redirect checker WhereGoes, these links point to online selling platforms instead.
In an August 7 press conference, Angelica’s lawyer Raymond Fortun debunked the post attributed to his client, saying: “This is an example of an inflammatory post quoting a poser. Mrs Yulo did NOT post this on socmed.”
Double Olympic gold: The false posts gained traction after Carlos clinched back-to-back gold medals on August 3 and 4 at the Paris Olympics for the men’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise and vault finals.
The gymnast also ranked 12th place in the all-around finals days before his historic win. His mother shared Rappler’s report on the ranking on Facebook, praising Japan for ranking first in the all-around finals but making no mention of her son. Her post prompted criticism from netizens and sparked conversations about a rift within the Yulo family. (READ MORE: Half-truths and falsehoods told about Carlos Yulo)
Genuine statements: Carlos, his mother, and his girlfriend have released statements about the family issues through videos released on news sites or other social media platforms, not through X posts.
In an interview with Bombo Radyo Philippines, Angelica blamed San Jose for causing the rift with her son. She also defended herself against allegations that she had stolen money from Carlos.
On August 4, San Jose commented on the issue by sharing a now-deleted Facebook post, saying she and Carlos would wait until after the gymnast’s vault finals to clarify their side of the story.
On August 6, Carlos then published a video on TikTok to respond to the points brought up by his mother in her interview. San Jose also appeared in the video.
Carlos’ mother apologized to her son at the August 7 press conference, during which her lawyer reiterated his warning against fake, “inflammatory” posts attributed to Angelica and her children.
Previous fact checks: Rappler has previously debunked false claims about Yulo and other athletes:
– Shay Du/Rappler.com
Shay Du is a Rappler intern. She is an incoming fourth-year mass communication student at Silliman University. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.
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