Fact Check: Ron Howard didn't write 'I'm a liberal' letter

Yahoo

5 days ago

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:
Since 2018, an open letter listing examples of what it means to be "a liberal" has circulated online. Many internet users attributed the letter to actor and director Ron Howard, often including a photo of Howard in posts sharing the text.
The letter, which is around 1,300 words, began as follows:
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:
The remainder of the letter consists of 16 numbered points describing the author's beliefs.
Various social media (archived) and blog (archived) posts have attributed the letter to Howard over the years. In July 2025, multiple posts on Facebook featured the claim.
(Facebook user Dan Walters)
As we reported when we first looked into the text's origins in 2020, Howard was not the real author of the letter. Instead, the words were the work of novelist Lori Gallagher Witt. As a result, we rated the letter as misattributed.
Witt first posted the letter on her Facebook (archived) and Tumblr (archived) accounts on Jan. 7, 2018. A screenshot of her original Facebook post is below. (Due to the letter's length, we split the screenshot into two roughly equal halves that appear side by side.)
(Lori Gallagher Witt)
Witt's original letter included a longer introduction than the version that circulated in 2025. The original version opened as follows:
An open letter to friends and family who are/were shocked to discover I'm a liberal…
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.
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.
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.
Or am I?
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.
The Facebook post's edit history showed that on Feb. 2, 2018, around a month after she originally published the letter, Witt added a notice reading "(c) 2018 Lori Gallagher Witt. Feel free to share, but please give me credit, and if you add or change anything, please note accordingly." A similar notice also appeared at the bottom of her Tumblr post.
In an email to Snopes in February 2025, Witt said she was inspired to write the letter not because of a single event but because she believed her social circle did not understand her beliefs. She said:
It had been brewing in my head for a while, especially because I have/had a lot of conservative friends and relatives who would often parrot things about "those liberals." There was a lot of comments about how we "hate America," we're communists, we want to destroy everything, etc. It was this really vile and disingenuous picture of who and what we are, and I felt the need to set the record straight. I genuinely had no idea it would resonate with that many people or that it would go viral.
How the misattribution spread
The letter's misattribution to Howard began in 2020, when, as Witt explained in a Facebook post, someone named Ron Howard — no relation to the director — shared her post without attribution. That person eventually corrected his post to note Witt as the text's author after she reached out to him. But by that point, other internet users had already begun sharing the letter with the name "Ron Howard" attached.
Since then, Witt has posted numerous times about her frustration with the persistence of the misattribution, which she has dubbed "the Howarding."
In 2025, Witt posted a photo of Howard holding a poster with images of social media posts containing the letter and a line reading "I didn't write this" with a checkmark and Howard's signature next to it. Witt said over email that the photo was from Howard's April 2025 appearance at Pittsburgh's Steel City Con, and that her husband had brought the poster for Howard to sign and pose with.
https://www.facebook.com/thethinker42/posts/10162550700473700
As of this writing, readers have shared Witt's original 2018 Facebook post around 30,000 times. By contrast, a Feb. 9, 2025, post that incorrectly attributed the words to Howard amassed more than 100,000 shares — more than three times as many as Witt's original post — in just a few days.
Witt said although Howard was by far the person she's most frequently seen miscredited with the letter's authorship, she's experienced other people attempting to take credit for — and even make money off — her words in the past. "I could live with a post going viral and getting separated from my name, but I draw the line when people try to monetize it or otherwise use it to elevate themselves," she said.
Witt also said she believed a connection between Howard and U.S. Vice President JD Vance may have spurred renewed interest in the misattributed letter. In 2020, Howard directed and produced the film adaptation of "Hillbilly Elegy," Vance's 2016 memoir.
We've previously looked into other claims involving Howard. They included a rumor that a clip from the television show "Arrested Development" in which he appeared was proof the 1969 moon landing was fake.
Evon, Dan. "Did Ron Howard Pen the 'I Am a Liberal' Essay?" Snopes, 31 Jan. 2020, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/ron-howard-i-am-liberal-essay/.
---. "Ron Howard Didn't Say That the 1969 Moon Landing Was Fake." Snopes, 31 Mar. 2016, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/ron-howard-moon-hoax/.
Hillbilly Elegy. Directed by Ron Howard, Imagine Entertainment, Netflix, 2020.
Jr, Mike Fleming. "Ron Howard On His TIFF Film 'Eden', Viggo's 'Thirteen Lives' Comments, JD Vance Evolving Into Trump's Polarizing Veep Candidate, And How Being Changeable Has Sustained A 65-Year Career – The Deadline Q&A." Deadline, 7 Sept. 2024, https://deadline.com/2024/09/ron-howard-totonro-film-festival-eden-sydney-sweeney-viggo-mortensen-thirteen-lives-jd-vance-hillbilly-elegy-1236080950/.
Vance, J. D. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. Reprint Ed. edition, Harper, 2016.