A rumor that circulated online, primarily on Facebook, in June 2025 claimed singer and musician Paul McCartney refused to celebrate Pride month, saying "woke doesn't deserve remembrance." The month of recognition falls annually in June. Snopes readers searched for answers about this matter, including asking, "Did Paul McCartney say he won't celebrate woke?," as well as, "Paul McCartney refuses to celebrate Pride month?"
However, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no news media outlets reporting McCartney as coming out against Pride month, nor did any results mention the former Beatles and Wings star speaking negatively about the word "woke." Had McCartney made any such statements, outlets worldwide would have widely reported on the matter. Some Facebook users who shared the fabricated story did so in order to earn website advertising revenue from the articles featured in the top comment below posts. A scan of those articles' text with the artificial intelligence (AI)-detection tools Copyleaks and GPTZero found an extremely high likelihood that a person asked AI to write those websites' false stories.
Snopes contacted a representative for McCartney to ask about the rumor and will update this story if we learn more information.
Investigating the McCartney rumor
In one prime example of a user sharing the rumor claiming McCartney spoke poorly of Pride month and the term "woke," on June 28, a manager of a Beatles fan page on Facebook posted (archived) the rumor. Other Facebook and X users also promoted the rumor.
(The Beatles Fan Forever/Facebook)
The Beatles fan page's post, receiving over 47,000 reactions, read as follows:
BREAKING NEWS: Paul McCartney REFUSES to Celebrate Pride Month — Says "WOKE Doesn't Deserve Remembrance"
Singer Paul McCartney is stirring major controversy after declaring that he will not recognize Pride Month, calling it "a woke invention" that does not reflect traditional American values. "I love everyone," Paul stated, "but the woke do not deserve to be commemorated." His statement has ignited a firestorm across the political and entertainment worlds.
Another Facebook post (archived), as well as several others, featured a link to an article in the first comment. The WordPress blog topnewssource.com hosted the story. Other blogs also featured similar articles. The topnewssource.com article, which AI-detection tools believed originated with a human entering a prompt into an AI tool, began as follows:
In a stunning and unexpected statement that has already ignited a firestorm across social media and entertainment circles, legendary Beatles frontman Sir Paul McCartney has publicly refused to participate in any Pride Month celebrations — denouncing what he described as the "modern WOKE movement" as undeserving of cultural remembrance.
The 82-year-old music icon, long considered a symbol of peace and tolerance, made the remarks during an impromptu Q&A session at a private arts symposium in London. When asked if he had any plans to recognize Pride Month or support LGBTQ+ causes this year, McCartney responded bluntly:
"I don't celebrate it. I won't. WOKE doesn't deserve remembrance — it deserves reflection. It's become a machine of shame and division, not inclusion."
Again, no evidence supports the idea of McCartney ever making these statements.
McCartney's past support of Pride flags at concerts
Aside from the false rumor about McCartney making negative comments about Pride month and the word "woke," the famous singer has, in the past, supported the LGBTQ+ community.
On June 14, 2016, just two days following the deadly shooting at the LGBTQ+-friendly Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, McCartney posted a picture on Facebook and X showing him wrapped in a Pride flag. The caption read, "We stand together with Orlando."
The caption, "We stand together with Orlando," also appeared in another post displaying a video of McCartney's band holding up a Pride flag.
Several videos hosted on TikTok, as well as an image on the Getty Images website, depict McCartney's band members waving a Pride flag at concerts.
For further reading, another fact check reported on a rumor claiming McCartney bought letters from John Lennon's first marriage and returned them to Lennon's former wife with a note telling her not to sell her memories.