In December 2025, a rumor circulated online that Ireland had denied a citizenship application from the comedian Rosie O’Donnell. According to the claim, O’Donnell’s application was denied because her family was supposedly Welsh, not Irish. The claim went viral on Facebook, where it was shared by pages including America’s Last Line of Defense:
(Facebook page America’s Last Line of Defense)
Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events. However, there was no evidence Ireland had denied an application for citizenship from O’Donnell. Snopes traced the rumor’s source back to a network of social media pages and websites called America’s Last Line of Defense, which describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature. For instance, the Facebook page’s bio reads:
The flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery and propaganda for cash.Â
Nothing on this page is real.
The fictional story may have been believable because of O’Donnell’s combative relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump. Throughout Trump’s first term, O’Donnell was consistently one of his biggest detractors. According to The Washington Post, she decided to move to Ireland with her wife and children after Trump won the 2024 presidential election and has sought citizenship through descent. In July 2025, Trump said he was considering revoking O’Donnell’s U.S. citizenship (something that he does not have the power to do, according to Time magazine).
America’s Last Line of Defense has a history of making up stories for shares and comments. Snopes has addressed similar satirical claims originating from the network of pages in the past, including the assertion that Trump had given his private plane to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and a rumor that Bill Clinton’s charity had lost tax-exempt status after an audit from the Pentagon.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.
