Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has finally revealed how he knew about Osama bin Laden’s death before it was publicly announced by the American government.
He had posted about it back in 2011
Johnson had tweeted about Osama bin Laden’s death back on May 1, 2011, writing, “Just got word that will shock the world – Land of the free…home of the brave DAMN PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
But Barack Obama, who was the US President at the time, hadn’t actually publicly announced it yet.
People were confused about how Johnson knew
Because Obama hadn’t yet mentioned bin Laden’s death when Johnson wrote the tweet, people have wondered how the actor could’ve possibly known.
Now nearly 15 years later, he has revealed the details in an appearance on Awards Chatter podcast by The Hollywood Reporter.
The host asked him about the incident
The podcast host asked Johnson, “Before anyone else in the world had reported the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed, how did you know that had happened?”
The actor said he wasn’t supposed to reveal it first but he got the timing wrong.
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A friend told him about it
“I’ve got a friend of a friend who gave me a call. The call was like, ‘Hey, this thing happened’. And I said, ‘Okay, wonderful news’,” the 53-year-old explained.
Johnson had planned on posting it afterwards
He added, “I was told on the call that the president at that time was going to make his speech in 20 minutes or whatever. I said, ‘Okay, great.’ So, 20 minutes go by, and at about the 25th minute, I tweet this.”
Someone called him again about the wrong timing
As it so happened, Obama hadn’t yet announced bin Laden’s death publicly, so someone else had to call Johnson about getting the timing wrong with his post.
“I get a second call, and the call is, ‘Yeah, the president didn’t go on yet’. And I went, ‘Oh s***’.”
The actor also mentioned this in 2012
Johnson had also touched on this mistake in an interview with Moviefone in 2012. He said, “If I tell you that, I won’t have to kill you, but I’ll have to behead you – no, I got my sources.”
“I got friends in high places and low places. It was a very interesting day…the individuals who were there were proud to let me know.”
He knew Obama would be giving a speech
“I knew the president was going to give his speech; I thought he was going to give it at a certain time and so I thought, I think it’s appropriate that I tweet ‘I’m damn proud to be an American’ and keep it in that space without giving away too much information,” Johnson said.
