In early July 2025, after extreme flooding left at least 100 people dead and 160 missing in Texas, a claim circulated online that country music singers Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan traveled to the state to help affected families. Some versions of the claim said Shelton was instead accompanied by his wife, singer Gwen Stefani.
Both versions circulated in the form of posts with nearly identical captions describing how Shelton inspired his travel partner (Bryan or Stefani) to accompany him to help people affected by the flooding in Texas.
The most popular version of the claim (archived) said Shelton traveled with Bryan. One post featuring that version had around 99,000 reactions at the time of this writing.
The caption of that post read:
Blake Shelton leaned against a truck loaded with relief supplies, eyeing Luke Bryan. "Man, these Texas folks need us," Blake said, voice heavy. "Homes gone, families split—we gotta get out there." Luke nodded, tossing a box of blankets into the pile. "Yeah, I'm in. Let's hit Kerrville, hand out food, water, whatever they need. Maybe lift their spirits too." Blake grinned slightly. "You bring your guitar? Might need a song to keep 'em going." Luke chuckled, "Always. Let's do this—show 'em they're not alone." They climbed into the truck, ready to aid the flood-stricken families.
Another post (archived) that mentioned Stefani instead of Bryan received around 11,000 reactions. The caption of that post read:
Blake Shelton leaned against a truck loaded with relief supplies, eyeing wife Gwen Stefani. 'Babe, these Texas folks need us,' Blake said, voice heavy. 'Homes gone, families split we gotta get out there.' Gwen nodded, tossing a box of blankets into the pile. 'Yeah, I'm in. Let's hit Kerrville, hand out food, water, whatever they need. Maybe lift their spirits too.' They climbed into the truck, ready to aid the flood-stricken families.
The claims circulated on various (archived) Facebook (archived) pages (archived), gaining thousands of views. Snopes readers wrote in asking if the claim was true.
However, we found no evidence that Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan or Gwen Stefani traveled to Texas to provide aid after the July 4 floods. A representative for Shelton said the singer had not been "on site in Texas" at the time of this writing. The claims appeared alongside images that showed clear signs of being generated by artificial intelligence (AI). We found similarly worded captions in posts not just about Shelton, Bryan and Stefani but other celebrities as well (archived, archived).
One article detailing Shelton and Bryan's alleged aid donation referenced social media posts and discussions that did not exist. The article claimed Shelton and Bryan worked with at least one real organization — the First United Methodist Church in Kerrville, Texas — that said (archived) on Facebook it was not accepting physical donations. Given the above, we rate this claim false.
We reached out to agents for Bryan and Stefani to ask whether either musician traveled to Texas in the wake of the flooding. We also reached out to several organizations named in the news article detailing Shelton and Bryan's alleged donation to confirm whether they worked with the singers. We await replies to our queries.
Aside from the identical captions, the images shared alongside the claims about Shelton, Bryan and Stefani were likely AI-generated.
Sightengine and Hive Moderation, two online AI detectors, found images allegedly showing Shelton and Bryan highly likely to contain AI-generated content.
(Facebook users Poesia de Amor and The Voice Fandom/Sightengine/Hive Moderation)
Images that allegedly showed Shelton and Stefani also showed clear signs of AI. In one (left) Shelton and Stefani appeared to carry a box — but neither of them had placed their hands on it in a way that would support the box's weight. In another (right), Shelton and Stefani sat on the back of a truck that appeared to be moving very quickly, as indicated by the blurred road and surroundings, even though the tailgate was down and the truck bed was full of unsecured boxes. Additionally, Shelton's fingers interlocked in an unnatural way.
(Facebook user Musical Devotee)
Snopes readers also asked about an article allegedly detailing Shelton and Bryan's aid drive to Texas. A website named todaycnews.com, which appeared to publish celebrity news, published the article.
However, we could not verify any of the details reported in the article.
The article claimed that Shelton posted a statement on X that read: "Seeing the news about Texas broke my heart. These are good folks who've lost everything—homes, loved ones, hope. Luke and I couldn't just sit back. We're here to help, whether it's handing out supplies or just being there for people who need it," and that Bryan replied: "We're country boys at heart. When our neighbors are hurting, we show up. That's what this is about." We found no trace of these posts on Shelton and Bryan's X accounts.
Shelton and Bryan allegedly worked with the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country and the Salvation Army's Kerrville Kroc Center to deliver aid.
The article further said that Shelton and Bryan visited Southern Oaks Church and First Methodist Church in Kerrville, both of which were reportedly functioning as shelters. Neither church posted about the alleged visit on their Facebook pages. While Southern Oaks Church did appear to have a volunteer operation, First Methodist Church said on its Facebook page that it was not receiving physical donations, which is what Shelton and Bryan allegedly brought.
According to the article, videos circulated on X showing Shelton and Bryan bringing donations to the churches named above. We found no such videos in our searches. That was expected, seeing as Shelton's representative said Shelton had not gone to Texas.
Aside from the above, Zerogpt.com, an online AI detector for text, assessed the first two paragraphs of the article as 100% AI-generated.
Snopes has reported extensively on claims related to the 2025 Texas floods, including whether "cloud seeding" caused the flooding and false reports that rescuers saved two girls from a 30-foot tree.