{"id":2468260,"date":"2025-07-29T14:04:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T18:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/billy-joel-repeats-very-fine-people-hoax-in-new-documentary\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T14:05:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T18:05:16","slug":"billy-joel-repeats-very-fine-people-hoax-in-new-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/billy-joel-repeats-very-fine-people-hoax-in-new-documentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Joel Repeats &#8216;Very Fine People&#8217; Hoax In New Documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbilly-joel-repeats-very-fine-people-hoax-in-new-documentary%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2468260&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article criticizes Billy Joel for repeating the debunked &#8220;very fine people on both sides&#8221; claim in his HBO Max documentary *Billy Joel: Adn So It Goes*. joel referenced president Donald Trump&#8217;s 2017 remarks following the Charlottesville rally, suggesting Trump failed to fully condemn white nationalists and neo-Nazis. Though, the article explains that Trump explicitly condemned such hate groups during his speech and that his &#8220;very fine people on both sides&#8221; comment referred to other protesters and counterprotesters, not extremists. This claim has been fact-checked and confirmed false by multiple sources, including Snopes and CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper.The author argues that entertainers like Joel shoudl stick to entertainment rather then spreading political misinformation.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body body-md bdr-top-black pt-30\">\n<div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fvCB4gg7yS0\">HBO Max\/Youtube <\/a>       <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-share text-center article-share-simple\">\n<h5 class=\"label-sm mb-10\">Share<\/h5>\n<ul class=\"article-share-list list-unstyled m-0 p-0\">\n<li class=\"article-share-facebook m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/29\/billy-joel-repeats-very-fine-people-hoax-in-new-documentary\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-facebook\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Facebook<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-twitter m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Billy%20Joel%20Repeats%20%E2%80%98Very%20Fine%20People%E2%80%99%20Hoax%20In%20New%20Documentary&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/29\/billy-joel-repeats-very-fine-people-hoax-in-new-documentary\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Twitter<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-truth-social m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/share?title=Billy%20Joel%20Repeats%20%E2%80%98Very%20Fine%20People%E2%80%99%20Hoax%20In%20New%20Documentary&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/29\/billy-joel-repeats-very-fine-people-hoax-in-new-documentary\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" fill=\"currentColor\" style=\"width:36px;height:auto;\" viewbox=\"0 0 92 93\"><path d=\"M69.444 55.716H56.772v10.37h12.672zM64.487 37.795V27.32H38.666v38.664h13.18v-28.19zM21.05 27.321h12.653v10.471H21.051z\" https:><\/path><\/svg>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Truth Social<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-link m-0\">       <button data-clipboard-text=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/29\/billy-joel-repeats-very-fine-people-hoax-in-new-documentary\/\" data-tooltip-content=\"Copied!\" class=\"clip tooltip\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-link-variant\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Copy Article Link<\/span>       <\/button>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\">       <a href=\"mailto:?subject=Billy%20Joel%20Repeats%20%E2%80%98Very%20Fine%20People%E2%80%99%20Hoax%20In%20New%20Documentary&amp;body=%20https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/07\/29\/billy-joel-repeats-very-fine-people-hoax-in-new-documentary\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-email\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article via Email<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\"><span class=\"printfriendly pf-button  pf-alignleft\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\"><span id=\"printfriendly-text2\" class=\"pf-button-text\"><i class=\"mdi mdi-printer\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;Honesty&rdquo; isn&rsquo;t just the title of one of Billy Joel&rsquo;s best songs &mdash; it&rsquo;s also what he should&rsquo;ve given his audience in his latest documentary instead of repeating the &ldquo;very fine people on both sides&rdquo; hoax.<\/p>\n<p>I spent my Friday evening like any loyal Joel fan would: watching part two of his <em>Billy Joel: And So It Goes<\/em> documentary on HBO Max. It was just as good as part one until Joel decided to wade into politics.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2 d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-526804265\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1463670073398-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Talking about President Donald Trump&rsquo;s 2017 speech in which he condemned white nationalists following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/billy-joel-slams-donald-trump-charlottesville-speech-hbo-doc-1236030160\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Joel said<\/a> he just couldn&rsquo;t &ldquo;look away.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I had to do something. I was angry. Here they are marching through an American city saying, &lsquo;Jews will not replace us.&rsquo; We fought a war to defeat these people! And then when Trump comes out and says, &lsquo;There were very fine people on both sides,&rsquo; he should&rsquo;ve come out and said, &lsquo;Those are bad people.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But this is why entertainers should stick to merely entertaining. Because Trump <em>didn&rsquo;t<\/em> call Neo-Nazis or white supremacists &ldquo;very fine people.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/06\/27\/biden-peddles-very-fine-people-hoax-after-even-fact-checkers-admitted-it-was-a-lie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2017 Charlottesville rally<\/a> involved protesters and counterprotesters demonstrating regarding the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from a park. Sadly, a self-proclaimed &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >white nationalist&#038;rdquo<\/a>; rammed his car through the crowd, killing one and injuring 19.<\/p>\n<p>Days later Trump held a press conference in which he explicitly condemned neo-Nazis and white nationalists. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides,&rdquo; Trump said, referring to those protesting the statue&rsquo;s removal and counterprotesters. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the &ldquo;very fine people on both sides&rdquo; hoax has been debunked even by CNN&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/rncresearch\/status\/1806505629311185190?s=46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jake Tapper<\/a>, who noted Trump was clearly referring to other protesters (which, note, does <em>not<\/em> encompass neo-Nazis and white supremacists).<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Now elsewhere, in those remarks, [Trump] did condemn neo-Nazis and white supremacists,&rdquo; Tapper said in a CNN segment from 2019. &ldquo;So he&rsquo;s not saying that the neo-Nazis and white supremacists are &lsquo;very fine people.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nearly seven years after Trump&rsquo;s comments, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snopes.com\/fact-check\/trump-very-fine-people\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Snopes<\/a> finally fact-checked the &ldquo;very <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-question-on-everyones-mind-after-debate-who-is-running-the-country\/\" title=\"The Question on Everyone\u2019s Mind After Debate: Who Is Running the Country?\">fine people&#038;rdquo<\/a>; hoax as false.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In a news conference after the rally protesting the planned removal of a Confederate statue, Trump did say there were &lsquo;very fine people on both sides,&rsquo; referring to the protesters and the counterprotesters,&rdquo; wrote Snopes writer Taija PerryCook. &ldquo;He said in the same statement he wasn&rsquo;t talking about neo-Nazis and white nationalists, who he said should be &lsquo;condemned totally.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Though the &ldquo;very fine people&rdquo; hoax has been thoroughly debunked, even by outlets that have an incentive to keep it alive, Joel parroted the old, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joe-biden-media-claim-georgia-law-prevents-giving-water-to-voters-in-line-thats-not-true\/\" title=\"Joe Biden, Media Claim Georgia Law Prevents Giving Water To Voters In Line. That\u2019s Not True.\">false talking point<\/a>. But &ldquo;Honesty&rdquo; shouldn&rsquo;t stop at the lyrics.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-30 bdr-top-bold-black\">\n<div class=\"row g-0 align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n<div class=\"article-author-profile d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center justify-content-md-start\">\n<div class=\"article-author-details\">\n<div class=\"label-md\">Brianna Lyman<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author-twitter label-sm d-flex align-items-center mt-10\">             <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter me-5\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>             <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Visit on Twitter<\/span>            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/briannalyman2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-decoration-none\">@briannalyman2<\/a>           <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6 d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-md-end mt-15 mt-md-0\">        <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/author\/briannalyman\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">More Articles<\/a>     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/billy-joel\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Billy Joel<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/charlottesville\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Charlottesville<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/entertainment\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">entertainment<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/hoax\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">hoax<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/jake-tapper\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Jake Tapper<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/music\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">music<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/snopes\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Snopes<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/very-fine-people\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">very fine people<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image Credit HBO Max\/Youtube Share on Facebook, Twitter, Truth Social, Email &#8220;Honesty&#8221; isn&#8217;t just a Billy Joel song title-it&#8217;s what he owed viewers instead of repeating the &#8220;very<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2468261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/billy-joel-pic-scaled-e1753809203547.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[51964,5844,8857,46040,33142],"class_list":["post-2468260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-billy-joel","tag-documentary","tag-hoax","tag-music-controversy","tag-very-fine-people"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/billy-joel-pic-scaled-e1753809203547.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2468260"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2468264,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2468260\/revisions\/2468264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2468261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2468260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2468260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2468260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}