A rumor that circulated online in October 2025 claimed (archived) zookeeper and conservationist Robert Irwin filed a $60 million lawsuit against U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
According to the story, Irwin sued Hegseth following an “explosive on-air showdown” on an unnamed television show.
One Facebook page that shared the alleged story wrote, “‘BEATEN, BEATEN – PAY NOW!’ – Robert Irwin Sues Pete Hegseth and Network for $60 MILLION After Shocking On-Air Clash. No One Saw It Coming.”
Other Facebook users also shared the same claim (archived, archived, archived, archived). Some of those posts featured links in top comments leading to advertisement-filled articles hosted by WordPress blogs.
The claim was false. We found no evidence in searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo that Irwin — the son of Steve Irwin — had sued Hegseth or that the two had appeared on a TV broadcast together as social media posts claimed (archived, archived, archived, archived). Prominent news media outlets would have widely reported this rumor, if true.
Whoever authored the story fabricated the entire tale as one of hundreds of tales about popular celebrities, politicians or and athletes. They aimed to earn advertising revenue on websites linked from the aforementioned Facebook posts.
An examination of Irwin Generations, one Facebook page that shared the claim, found multiple indications of artificial intelligence-generated images and text. Days earlier, Irwin Generations shared (archived) another false claim about Irwin reportedly dropping out of Pride night on Dancing With The Stars.
The claim that Irwin sued Hegseth appeared to be one of many claims about celebrities allegedly suing each other. Searching the first phrase, “BEATEN, BEATEN – PAY NOW!” on Facebook brought up a series of similar claims. Snopes previously debunked a claim that the golfer Tiger Woods sued Pete Hegseth that used the same first line.
Snopes contacted a manager of the Irwin Generations Facebook page to ask about the fictional stories displayed on the feed and will update this story if we receive more information.
For further reading, Snopes previously debunked other, similar claims that Taylor Swift’s fiancé, Travis Kelce, or the singer and actress Barbra Streisand sued White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
