Actor Kurt Russell once said, “Children don’t need new genders, they need normal parents.”
In July 2026, people claimed film and TV actor Kurt Russell once said, “Children don’t need new genders, they need normal parents.”
For example, on July 24, David J. Harris Jr., who hosts the Newsmax TV show “The Pulse,” posted on Facebook (archived) a photo of Russell that displayed the word “BREAKING” with two police car light emojis. The post’s text read, “BREAKING: Famous actor, Kurt Russell, came out STRONG against woke parents. He says: ‘Children don’t need new genders, they need normal parents.'” Harris made the same exact post (archived) on the previous day.
(David J. Harris Jr. accessed via Facebook)
Other users shared the same alleged quote on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and X (archived).
In short, Russell did not say this. Users shared a fabricated quote without presenting evidence of Russell ever making the remark.
Snopes reached out by email to a Russell representatives with United Talent. We asked for official confirmation that Russell never said the alleged quote and will update this article if we receive that confirmation.
Researching the quote
Searches of DuckDuckGo and Google failed to locate any news media outlets reporting Russell made the remark, “Children don’t need new genders, they need normal parents.” Entertainment and political outlets would have widely reported on the politically charged matter had he truly made the comment.
Additional searches for the quote on the online book archive Google Books, newspaper archive Newspapers.com and YouTube found no further details, either.
Those searches, as well as reverse image searches, located several memes containing the quote on Facebook (archived) Instagram (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived). According to the searches, the earliest posts attributing the quote to Russell dated back to at least May 2026. We have not yet confirmed the original source of the quote.
Months earlier in March, users shared a similar rumor falsely alleging people boycotted Russell after he said children should not be allowed to watch cartoons with LGBTQ+ themes. No evidence supported the claim Russell made that remark, either.
For further reading, we previously reported the truth of whether U.S. President Donald Trump celebrated Russell at the Kennedy Center Honors.
