Chris Evans is setting the record straight.
The Captain America actor took to Instagram on Thursday, May 30, to clarify the context behind a photograph that shows him signing what appears to be a missile.
“There’s a lot of misinformation surrounding this picture,” Evans wrote via his Instagram Story, appearing to refer to inaccurate social media claims in recent months that he signed an Israeli bomb intended for use in Gaza.
“This image was taken during a USO tour in 2016,” Evans continued. “I went with a group of actors, athletes and musicians to show appreciation for our service members.”
“The object I was asked to sign is not a bomb, or a missile, or a weapon of any kind,” he added. “It’s an inert object used for training or display purposes only.”
The photograph of Evans was taken in December 2016 when the actor visited the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey to offer holiday wishes to deployed U.S. troops. The trip, organized by the United Service Organizations, was also attended by Evans’ Captain America and Avengers costar, Scarlett Johansson.
In February, a U.S. Air Force spokesperson told AFP that the item Evans, 42, signed was not an active weapon.
“The object Chris Evans is signing in the USO tour photo from 2016 is an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) inert training aid. The object is meant to model an artillery shell and is for display and training purposes only,” the spokesperson said.
“I can verify this is a photo from our 2016 USO Holiday Tour and was taken by a DoD photographer at that time,” Jennifer Passey, director of communications for the USO, also told AFP in February.
The USO shared highlights of its 2016 holiday tour, which also featured former NBA player Ray Allen, country music artist Craig Campbell and Olympic gold medalist swimmer Maya DiRado, at the time.
The USO said the celebrities spread holiday cheer to service people in Afghanistan, Turkey, Qatar and Germany.
“While on the ground, the group met with an explosive ordinance disposal team, got to see multiple military aircraft, spoke with operational maintenance crews and a missile brigade and participated in a security forces K-9 demonstration,” the USO described the trip in a December 2016 post on its website.
