A rumor that circulated online in May 2025 claimed a video authentically showed a 95-year-old World War II veteran named Henry Whitaker singing for his fallen friend Thomas on NBC's reality competition show "America's Got Talent," also known as "AGT."
However, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no credible news media outlets reporting on a World War II veteran recently performing on the show. A representative for Fremantle, the company that makes "AGT," confirmed by email that the video did not depict a real contestant and that the clip's creator used AI.
That video, as well as other "AGT" singing clips, such as one documenting the story of a 54-year-old man named Ernesto, featured fake content. The maker of these videos fabricated heartbreaking and heartwarming stories, editing the clips with a mix of genuine footage of the show's audience and judges with fake clips they created with artificial-intelligence tools. The text descriptions under the videos displayed disclaimers noting the clips' fictional and AI-generated content.
Aside from the inauthentic performance, searches for authentic World War II participants matching the name "Henry Whitaker" found deceased veterans named Henry Page Whitaker, Henry Russell Whitaker, Henry Whitaker and John Henry Whitaker, perhaps among others. Additionally, a search for "AGT" performances featuring genuine World War II veterans located a story from 2016 about a man named Jimmy Kimmerly Sr., who died in 2024.
World War II veteran Henry Whitaker on 'AGT'?
On May 8, 2025, the AGTverse YouTube channel (archived) posted a video (archived) titled, "Emotional Story Leaves America's Got Talent in Tears: A WWII Veteran's Song for His Fallen Friend." The clip had more than 358,000 views at the time of this writing, and received comments from users indicating they believed the fake video genuinely featured a 95-year-old World War II veteran singing on the show.
Not only did the clip depict an AI-generated man named Henry Whitaker talking and singing, but some of the math underlying the video's claims did not add up. For example, if Whitaker was 95 in 2025, his age in 1944 calculates to about 14 — four years younger than the draft age of 18. Also, text in the clip's thumbnail image says Whitaker
The text description under the video read:
At 95, WWII veteran Henry Whitaker steps onto the America's Got Talent stage—not to compete, but to keep a promise.
In 1944, Henry and his best friend Thomas sang through the war with nothing but guitars, rifles, and hope. But days before Christmas, Thomas was taken by a sniper—and Henry never sang again.
Now, decades later, he finally opens the guitar case one last time… and sings the song they never finished.
This is a tribute. A promise kept. A song for a fallen brother.
The same description, once expanded by clicking "more," featured a disclaimer reading as follows:
This video contains content that was generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI). All visuals, voices, and scenarios presented are entirely fictional and created with the help of AI tools. This is not real footage, and it is intended for entertainment, creative, or illustrative purposes only. Please do not take the content as factual or representative of real events or people.
The AGTverse channel's creator also uploaded a YouTube Short video of the same clip, which received more than 263,000 views. A TikTok user reposted the original YouTube video in two (archived) parts (archived), receiving more than 2.3 million total views.
Snopes contacted an AGTverse YouTube channel's manager by email to ask if they believed their comments authentically originated from genuine users, as opposed to
The fabricated story of Ernesto on 'AGT'
Four days before uploading the video about the purported World War II veteran, a manager of the AGTverse YouTube channel posted a video (archived) on May 4 about a man named Ernesto, with the title "Shocking Story Leaves America's Got Talent in Tears: A Father's Song for the Family That Left Him." The clip received nearly 4 million views.
The text description under the video read:
A 54-year-old man steps onto the America's Got Talent stage—not to chase fame, but to sing one final song for his wife and son who left him behind. Once a hardworking carpenter and devoted father, Ernesto sacrificed everything to give his family a better life. But when they disappeared without goodbye, all he had left was his voice—and hope. Watch as his raw performance and heartbreaking story bring the entire theater to silence… and tears.
This is more than an audition. This is the voice of a broken father.
The description also featured the same disclaimer as the other video about fictional and AI-generated content.
A manager for the AGTverse channel uploaded two YouTube Shorts of the clip, receiving more than 6 million total views. Separately, the TikTok user who shared the two clips of the Henry Whitaker video also reposted the Ernesto video in two (archived) parts (archived), earning around 27 million total additional views.
For further reading on the subject of World War II, a previous article researched the history of a striking photo showing a woman in 1944 allegedly writing a thank-you note upon receiving the signed skull of a Japanese soldier.