Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has finally revealed how he found out the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed.
The 53-year-old star of The Smashing Machine shocked his Twitter (now X) followers in 2011, when he announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed before then US President Barack Obama addressed the nation.
Now, the star has admitted that he had found out about the killing of the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda before the American public knew from ‘a friend of a friend’.
On May 1, 2011, the star famously posted: ‘Just got word that will shock the world – Land of the free…home of the brave DAMN PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!’
Johnson recently appeared on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast where he was put on the spot by host Scott Feinberg about his famous post on the microblogging site as he replied: ‘Oh my God, this is not good.’
Feinberg went on to ask: ‘Before anyone else in the world had reported the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed, how did you know that had happened?’
In 2011, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (pictured April 2011) shocked his Twitter (now X) followers when he announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed before then US President Barack Obama addressed the nation and now the WWE Superstar turned actor has finally revealed how he found out the news
Osama bin Laden is seen in October 2001
Despite his hesitation at first, Johnson finally revealed how the famous tweet happened before the US president was even able to inform the nation.
He explained: ‘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.”
‘I was told on the call that the president at that time [Barack Obama] 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.’
However, Obama had yet to hit the podium at the time that the post was made, then the former WWE Champion was informed of his embarrassing mistake.
Johnson said: ‘Then I get a second call, and the call is, “Yeah, the president didn’t go on yet.” And I went, “Oh s***.”‘
On 9:45pm EDT on the evening of May 1, 2011, The White House had announced that the president would be addressing the nation later on in the evening.
At 10:24:05pm the first public leak had been made by Navy Reserve intel officer Keith Urbahn and a mere 47 seconds later Johnson’s post had been made on Twitter. It remains unclear if these two events were related.
Obama did announce the killing of bin Laden after Johnson’s post in a televised speech as he confirmed the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks had been compromised to a permanent end.
The 53-year-old star of The Smashing Machine recently admitted that he had known about the killing of the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda before the American public knew from ‘a friend of a friend’
On May 1, 2011, the star famously posted: ‘Just got word that will shock the world – Land of the free…home of the brave DAMN PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!’
Johnson (seen in LA on Wednesday) recently appeared on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast where he was put on the spot by host Scott Feinberg about his famous post on the microblogging site as he replied: ‘Oh my God, this is not good’
On 9:45pm EDT on the evening of May 1, 2011, The White House had announced that the president would be addressing the nation later on in the evening; Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton are seen left to right
The US president said at the time: ‘Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
‘A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.’
This was not the first time Johnson had kept his lips sealed about the identity of the ‘friend of a friend’ as he told Moviefone in 2012 via Politico: ‘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 also maintained that he had mixed up the time in which then US President Obama was going to address the nation.
Johnson told Moviefone at the time: ‘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.’
At 10:24:05pm the first public leak had been made by Navy Reserve intel officer Keith Urbahn and a mere 47 seconds later Johnson’s post had been made on Twitter. It remains unclear if these two events were related; bin Laden is pictured
Obama did announce the killing of bin Laden after Johnson’s post in a televised speech as he confirmed the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks had been compromised to a permanent end
In recent years, there has been speculation that Johnson, himself, has political aspirations and may be positioning himself for a campaign run for President of the US.
Feinberg asked him on the recent podcast interview: ‘In 2022, both major political parties apparently reached out to gauge your interest in running for president. You obviously did not choose to get involved for 2024.
‘On Young Rock, you run in 2032. Is there any chance that, in real life, you might entertain the possibility of running for president in the future?’
Interestingly, Johnson opted to refuse to answer the question as he said: ‘Brother, you’ve asked a lot of great questions. Let’s ask another one.’
Meanwhile, Dwayne has received some Oscar buzz as he portrays MMA fighter Mark Kerr in the sports drama alongside Emily Blunt, The Smashing Machine, which was released earlier this month.
