The Guardian breathlessly reported the conversion of Michael Sheen from luvvie-land board-treading to hardcore political activism this weekend:

“Michael Sheen plans to abandon his acting career to fight what he calls the rise of the “hard populist right” in Britain and beyond.”

The piece boasted:

“Although he has been based in Los Angeles for the past 14 years, home remains the South Wales steel town of Port Talbot, which voted overwhelmingly for Brexit in the June referendum – a result that initially left the actor “sad and frustrated” but then determined to fight back.”

Unfortunately, by Sheen’s own admission, none of this is true. The actor – whose agent must have had a fit – posted a blog on his personal Tumblr feed later the same day completely denying the story:

“I did one interview with The Times of London a few weeks ago, parts of which (including a headline that is not a quote) have been picked up by a lot of other outlets. I DID NOT declare that I’m ‘quitting acting and leaving Hollywood’ to go into politics.”

He continued:

“I certainly did NOT equate people who voted for Brexit or Trump with a fascistic ‘hard right’ that must be stopped. The majority of people in the U.K., including my hometown of Port Talbot, voted for Brexit. That is the will of the people and is to be respected. That is democracy.”

The Guardian’s piece remains uncorrected…

“Michael Sheen Has Delivered A Furious Attack On The Tories’ Treatment Of The NHS” reads the Buzzfeed headline reporting on a speech by the actor over the weekend. Sheen “delivered a impassioned speech in defence of the NHS” and apparently “people on the internet are absolutely loving it”. But was Sheen’s speech quite the anti-Tory diatribe Buzzfeed claimed? Read down to the bottom of the article and he actually said:

“This is beyond party politics. The Labour government arguably did as much damage to the NHS as any Tory or coalition [government].”

Even the Guardian headline – “Michael Sheen defends NHS against ‘bland’ politicians” – reflected Sheen’s non-partisan position. Their write up makes clear Sheen was criticising “politicians in thrall to the market from both Conservative and Labour parties”. Such left-wing topspin would make even HuffPo UK blush…