In the aftermath of deadly flooding in Texas that claimed more than 100 lives in July 2025, a rumor circulated online that tennis star Coco Gauff had donated $3 million to support search-and-rescue efforts. The floods struck over the Fourth of July weekend along the
For example, on July 7, one X user shared a post (archived) reading: "Tennis Star, Coco Gauff, has donated $3 million dollars for the search and rescue efforts and victims families in Texas. Bravo!!" The post, which had received more than 635,000 views at the time of this writing, displayed a picture of Gauff alongside images of flood damage and a rescue scene showing people walking with children in their arms.
(X user @Allareblessed2)
Some of the posts with the rumor alleged that Gauff had also personally traveled to the disaster zone to assist. For instance, one Facebook post (archived) began:
BREAKING: Tennis star Coco Gauff has donated $3.0 million to support victims and aid in the search and rescue of those missing in the devastating flash floods in Texas. Fans were stunned to learn that Coco Gauff personally traveled to the disaster site to offer hands-on help...
Other Facebook users also shared the same claim. Some of those posts featured links in top comments leading to articles hosted on advertisement-filled blogs. The rumor also spread on Threads and Instagram.
However, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no news media outlets reporting about Gauff donating $3 million for search and rescue efforts amid Texas floods. Prominent news media outlets would have widely reported this rumor, if true. There was also no mention of the donation on Gauff's social media accounts, including Instagram and Facebook.
Rather, the person or people who authored the story fabricated the entire tale as one of hundreds of inspirational tales that depicted celebrities and athletes performing inspiring acts of kindness. They aimed to earn advertising revenue on websites linked from the aforementioned Facebook posts. As we'll lay out later in this article, the story about Gauff donating $3 million for search and rescue efforts amid Texas floods amounted to fiction.
Snopes contacted Gauff's representatives by email to ask if they could confirm someone fabricated the rumor, and whether they had any additional comments to share. We will update this article if we receive a response.
How the false Gauff rumor spread
The Together We Rise Facebook page shared a post linking to a website spreading a false story about Gauff that contained contradicting details. The headline, like the Facebook post, claimed she donated $3 million to flood victims in Texas. However, the body of the article changed that figure to $30 million. The article started:
BREAKING: COCO GAUFF DONATES $3 MILLION TO TEXAS FLOOD VICTIMS—PERSONALLY TRAVELS TO DISASTER SITE TO OFFER HANDS-ON HELP!
As Texas continues to recover from one of the most devastating flash floods in recent history-claiming at least 51 lives, including 15 children, and leaving thousands displaced a powerful act of generosity and compassion has emerged from one of tennis's brightest young stars.
Coco Gauff, the 20-year-old Grand Slam champion and global icon, has donated a staggering $30 million to support relief efforts, aid displaced families, and fund the ongoing search and rescue missions for those still missing.
A Historic Donation
The $30 million donation, one of the largest private contributions to natural disaster relief this year, was made quietly through the Texas Disaster Relief Fund, without a press conference or social media post. News of the donation only surfaced when officials from the fund confirmed it to reporters, citing the enormous impact it would make
Additionally, a scan of the story's text with the Copyleaks.com website found a 100% likelihood that someone composed the article with the assistance of an artificial-intelligence tool.
(AI Content Detector - Copyleaks)
Another article spreading the false story employed an anti-crawling technique that involved visually substituting certain Latin letters with similar-looking
(www.sportnewss.livextop.com)
This tactic reduces the article's discoverability through standard keyword searches, complicating efforts to track its circulation.
The fact-checking website LeadStories also debunked this rumor.
For further reading, Snopes previously reported on a rumor that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes donated $1.5 million to a relief fund for victims of the July 2025 Texas floods and also rented apartments for homeless families.