In April 2026, a rumor circulated online that Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby had donated all of his $12.4 million in prize money and sponsorship earnings to a homeless shelter initiative in Pittsburgh, funding the construction of 75 homes with more than 180 beds.
A Facebook post shared on April 20 read:
Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby has donated his entire $12.4 million in prize money and sponsorship earnings to a homeless shelter initiative in Pittsburgh, funding the construction of 75 homes with more than 180 beds.
He said, "Growing up, I saw how easily families can fall into homelessness, and I understand how painful and isolating that reality is. No one should be left without a place to sleep." Sidney Crosby's compassionate action has deeply moved millions of people around the world.
Sidney Crosby's Historic Contribution: A Commitment to Change
(Facebook page Pittsburgh Penguins Fan Real)
The post included a collage of Crosby alongside images purportedly depicting beds and a building connected to the alleged homeless shelter initiative.
Other examples of the claim circulated on Facebook and LinkedIn. Snopes readers also searched our website to verify whether the rumor was true.
Using search engines such as DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo, we first searched for the phrases "Sidney Crosby homeless shelter donation" and "Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh homeless donation" to locate possible evidence from credible sources about the claim. If the story were true, journalists at reputable news outlets such as The Associated Press or Reuters would have widely reported it. That was not the case.
The rumor may have seemed plausible because Crosby has supported legitimate charitable causes before. In 2020, he donated 100,000 meals to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, according to the food bank and multiple news reports. He is also associated with the official Sidney Crosby's Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey program in the Pittsburgh area, and the Penguins Foundation's 2024-25 community impact report listed him among players involved in charitable initiatives.
However, the rumor that he had donated his entire $12.4 million in prize money and sponsorship earnings to a homeless shelter initiative in Pittsburgh was fictional. It originated from Facebook accounts and blog pages that use artificial intelligence tools to create inspiring or shocking stories about public figures. Therefore, we've rated this claim false.
A spokesperson for the Pittsburgh Penguins told Snopes via email that Crosby "does a lot of charitable work," but the rumor did not appear to be accurate.
Creators of such content capitalize on social media users' willingness to believe and share the made-up stories, profiting from advertising revenue on external websites to which the posts link. (Snopes has previously reported on the business strategy.)
We contacted a manager of the Facebook page spreading the rumor to ask why it shared the false story about Crosby donating $12.4 million without a disclaimer to note its inauthenticity. We will update this story if we receive a response.
Many posts spreading the false rumor about Crosby included links in the comment sections to articles on online blogs. The comments promised more details about Crosby's alleged donation in the links. For example, one post promoted an advertisement-filled story.
That article displayed several signs of AI-generated text. For example, it presented vague, unsourced claims, described unnamed representatives and a supposed press conference without providing verifiable details, and relied on emotionally charged and inspirational language.
The article also used visually similar characters from other alphabets instead of Latin letters. For example, the Cyrillic letter "п" appeared in place of the Latin letter "n" in words such as "Sidпey," "doпated" and "aппoυпcemeпt." This can make the text harder to search and analyze with digital tools, making it more difficult to verify its origin and find other versions.
(bright.daily24.world)
GPTZero, a tool that aims to detect AI-generated text, also determined with 100% certainty that the article was AI-generated. (These types of tools are fallible. Snopes cautions against using them to determine the authenticity of an image without other supporting evidence.)
The fictional story about Crosby donating $12.4 million to homeless housing in Pittsburgh resembled glurge, which Dictionary.com defines as "stories, often sent by email, that are supposed to be true and uplifting, but which are often fabricated and sentimental."
Snopes has previously debunked similar rumors that spread via similar methods. For example, in April 2026, we fact-checked a false story claiming Stephen Colbert and his wife opened a free hospital for the homeless.