Did Ron Howard write about being a liberal? Viral letter explored

An essay attributed to Ron Howard recently caught the attention of many X users. In a viral tweet, James Tate (@JamesTate121) has credited the award-winning director as the writer of an article. The statement explores the author's self-reflection on being a liberal and on their stance toward various issues. While the post received appreciation from most internet users, the essay was not written by Ron Howard.

According to fact-checking websites like Snopes and Lead Stories, the viral essay is incorrectly attributed to the Oscar-winning filmmaker. Instead, the article was written by an author named Lori Gallagher Witt on Facebook and Tumblr, which she later posted via Substack. Thus, despite having multiple accolades for his other work, Howard has no role in authoring the viral article.

Over the years, the “I’m Liberal” essay has resurfaced numerous times, but many failed to credit the original author. Around 2020, the essay started getting attributed to Ron Howard, which Lori Gallagher Witt has also addressed multiple times. Eventually, she jokingly updated her Facebook bio, which currently reads,

“Ron Howard didn't write it. I did.”

Read on to learn how A Beautiful Mind director got incorrectly credited for the viral essay.

How Lori Gallagher Witt’s Letter Got Misattributed to Ron Howard

In the aftermath of the 2016 election, Lori Gallagher Witt opened up about being a liberal and 15 beliefs that many like her share. However, somewhere around 2020, Ron Howard began receiving credit for Lori’s essay — something she describes as “the Howarding” on her website.

According to Gallagher Witt, someone who shared the director’s name posted the article using his name instead of hers. With Ron Howard’s name being attached to it, the essay went viral and has ever since been misattributed to him. Speaking about the phenomenon, Lori told Reuters in 2020,

“Literally within 24 hours, people were posting it as originating from THE Ron Howard, and it went wild from there even after the other Ron corrected his post after I contacted him.”

She also revealed in a Facebook post, talking about the other Ron Howard,

"So hey, all, the Ron Howard who posted my liberal letter isn't *that* Ron Howard, but he IS getting bombarded with messages over it. He's corrected his original post, but a lot of copied and pasted versions still have his name on them. Of course I appreciate folks making sure it's correctly attributed, but Ron *has* corrected it as much as he's able, and has been gracious about the whole thing!"

The original post by the author can be found below:

For those unaware, Gallagher Witt clarifies at the end of the “open letter,”

“Feel free to share, but please give me credit, and if you add or change anything, please note accordingly.”

However, in Lori Gallagher Witt’s words, the Howarding continued, with the essay resurfacing multiple times while being attributed to Ron Howard.