Claim:
Director Ron Howard authored a letter starting, “I’m a liberal, but that doesn’t mean what a lot of you apparently think it does.”
Rating:
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<p dir="ltr">During the summer of 2026, a viral claim re-emerged online falsely asserting that acclaimed filmmaker Ron Howard had written an open letter redefining what it means to be a political liberal.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The widely shared text, spanning approximately 1,300 words, opens with the following lines:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>"I'm a liberal, but that doesn't mean what a lot of you apparently think it does. Let's break it down, shall we? Because quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of being told what I believe and what I stand for. Spoiler alert: not every liberal is the same, though the majority of liberals I know think along roughly these same lines:"</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The remainder of the essay outlines 16 specific points detailing the author's personal perspectives and beliefs.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>By August 2026, this narrative had resurfaced across </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/974398320411877/posts/1803015347550166/"><span>numerous</span></a><span> social media <comment-start name="e1b3c256e10e011d0cb166c74ca631abd:c982b"/>posts<comment-end name="e1b3c256e10e011d0cb166c74ca631abd:c982b"/> on platforms like </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4182058941925305&set=a.350677978396773"><span>Facebook</span></a><span>, prompting many readers to seek out fact-checking resources.</span></p>
<img class="img-lg" src="https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600?url=https://media.snopes.com/2026/08/howarding_repack_claim_example.png" alt=""/>
<p><strong>(Facebook user Christina Tann)</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>As originally uncovered when investigating the text's origins back in 2020, Ron Howard had nothing to do with writing the letter. The true author is actually novelist </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thethinker42/"><span>Lori Gallagher Witt</span></a><span>. Consequently, the claim has been rated as an incorrect attribution.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Witt initially published the piece to her </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thethinker42/posts/10155931022478700"><span>Facebook</span></a><span> (</span><a href="https://ghostarchive.org/archive/rHuxP"><span>archived</span></a><span>) and </span><a href="https://www.tumblr.com/gallagherwitt/169422719191/an-open-letter-to-friends-and-family-who-arewere"><span>Tumblr</span></a><span> (</span><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250212164232/https://www.tumblr.com/gallagherwitt/169422719191/an-open-letter-to-friends-and-family-who-arewere"><span>archived</span></a><span>) profiles on January 7, 2018. Due to its length, her original post was frequently broken down into split screenshots for sharing.</span></p>
<img src="https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/600?url=https://media.snopes.com/2025/02/witt_original_collage_untitled_design.png" alt=""/>
<p><strong>(Lori Gallagher Witt)</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr">The version shared widely in later years actually omitted Witt's original, lengthier introduction, which began with these words:</p>
<div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a">
<blockquote><p>An open letter to friends and family who are/were shocked to discover I'm a liberal…</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a">
<blockquote><p>This is going to be VERY long, so: TL;DR: I'm a liberal, I've always been a liberal, but that doesn't mean what a lot of you apparently think it does.</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a">
<blockquote><p>Some of you suspected. Some of you were shocked. Many of you have known me for years, even the majority of my life. We either steadfastly avoided political topics, or I carefully steered conversations away from the more incendiary subjects in the name of keeping the peace. "I'm a liberal" isn't really something you broadcast in social circles where "the liberals" can't be said without wrinkling one's nose.</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a">
<blockquote><p>But then the 2016 election happened, and staying quiet wasn't an option anymore. Since then, I've received no shortage of emails and comments from people who were shocked, horrified, disappointed, disgusted, or otherwise displeased to realize I am *wrinkles nose* a liberal. Yep. I'm one of those bleeding heart commies who hates anyone who's white, straight, or conservative, and who wants the government to dictate everything you do while taking your money and giving it to people who don't work.</p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a">
<blockquote><p>Let's break it down, shall we? Because quite frankly, I'm getting a little tired of being told what I believe and what I stand for. Spoiler alert: Not every liberal is the same, though the majority of liberals I know think along roughly these same lines.</p></blockquote>
</div>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Records of her Facebook post show that on February 2, 2018, Witt updated the text to include a copyright notice: "(c) 2018 Lori Gallagher Witt. Feel free to share, but please give me credit, and if you add or change anything, please note accordingly." Similar ownership text was placed on her Tumblr page.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>In correspondence with fact-checkers, Witt explained that the inspiration behind the piece came from feeling misunderstood by conservative peers within her social circle. She noted that she felt compelled to clear up caricatures and false assumptions about what liberals supposedly stood for, though she never anticipated the writing would achieve viral status.</span></p>
<h2>How the misattribution spread</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><span>The mix-up linking the essay to Ron Howard started in 2020. As Witt detailed in a subsequent </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thethinker42/posts/pfbid0pDJJ3CJEPnXM9K2nnH7XVSFVLffux2GwwZToTub2AF22jaASZxowV4c3KeTfjPXWl"><span>post</span></a><span>, an individual who happened to share the name Ron Howard (unrelated to the director) initially posted her work without credit. Though that user corrected the error after being contacted, the text had already escaped and begun circulating under the Hollywood director's name.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Ever since, Witt has frequently voiced her annoyance regarding the persistent misattribution, a phenomenon she lightheartedly refers to as "the Howarding."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>By 2025, Witt shared a photograph of the real Ron Howard holding a promotional sign featuring screenshots of the fake posts alongside the handwritten note "I didn't write this," validated by his signature and checkmark. According to Witt, her husband presented the poster to Howard to sign and pose with during a convention appearance in Pittsburgh.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>While Witt's original 2018 post accumulated tens of thousands of shares, duplicate posts falsely crediting Howard frequently outperformed the original, sometimes racking up more than 100,000 shares in a matter of days.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>While Howard is the most prominent person mistakenly linked to her writing, Witt has noted past instances where individuals attempted to plagiarize or commercialize her words. She emphasized that while losing attribution during a viral wave is frustrating, crossing the line into monetization is where she draws the boundary.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Observers have suggested that renewed public attention toward Howard might be tied to his professional history with U.S. Vice President JD Vance—specifically, Howard's role as director and producer for the 2020 film version of Vance's memoir, </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6772802/"><span>"Hillbilly Elegy."</span></a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Fact-checking organizations have previously addressed other internet rumors concerning Ron Howard, including a bizarre </span><a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ron-howard-moon-hoax/"><span>conspiracy theory</span></a><span> claiming a cameo appearance of his on the TV sitcom "Arrested Development" served as proof that the 1969 moon landing was faked.</span></p>