On June 12, 2024, Snopes looked into a rumor claiming Joel Osteen — the leader of the Houston, Texas megachurch Lakewood Church — was leaving his ministry after event organizers kicked him out of a tribute for the late country-music star Toby Keith.

The rumor originated in at least one paid ad displayed on Meta’s social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. The headline of the ad read, “America Says Goodbye To Joel Osteen After The Announcement Was Made Public.” The text caption of the ad also said, “God had other plans for one of the most influential speakers of our time.”

However, this rumor about Osteen leaving his ministry and event organizers kicking him out of a Keith tribute was false. It was nothing more than the latest chapter in a long-running scam involving famous people, snake oil-like promises and CBD gummies.

RELATED: Joel Osteen’s Net Worth: Is It Really $40 to $60 Million?

The false ad featured a link to an article on the scam website labrea.cfd. Scammers designed the story to resemble the design and layout of the Fox News website, FoxNews.com, to fool potential victims into falling for the scam.

The headline of the false and scammy article on labrea.cfd read, “Joel Osteen kicked out of Toby Keith tribute event: His Reason Why On Air.” The story misleadingly mentioned Fox News’ chief political analyst Brit Hume as its author, and began as follows:

Joel Osteen made headlines today as he revealed the devastating truth behind his departure from his own ministry – and being kicked out of the “Toby Keith Tribute.”

…

“I hired a team of 10 well-regarded doctors and scientists to find a solution to this problem – and what they found was 10x better than I ever imagined. This product is all natural, and is especially helpful for older people like myself battling high blood pressure, chronic pain, and sleep deprivation. The early signs of dementia I was exhibiting are no longer present. I have never felt healthier and I owe it all to this miracle.”

His product, Bloom CBD Gummies, is one quarter of the price and 74% more effective than those being offered by Pfizer and other pharmaceutical conglomerates. And after seeing a massive decline in their sales, Pfizer started calling for Joel Osteen’s company to halt operations, saying:

“We’re happy Mr. Dobson found something to replace opioids, pain killers, and save American lives but his company is engaging in unacceptable business practices. He must cease production immediately and stop offering Bloom CBD Gummies to the public.”

This scam article’s author published nothing but lies. Osteen has never endorsed CBD gummies. We found no credible information about a product named Bloom CBD Gummies. Further, the article’s mention of “Mr. Dobson” indicated other scams existed online naming Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. We also found traces of a similar scam for the late Dr. Charles Stanley, also a Christian pastor.

Another false claim later in the scam article mentioning Osteen posits Bloom CBD Gummies “can instantly and permanently reverse dementia.” However, this is yet another lie attempting to provide false hope to patients desperate for a “miracle” dementia cure. The website for the British Alzheimer’s Society published, “There are no research studies that prove cannabis, or products such as cannabis oil (CBD oil), can stop, slow, reverse or prevent the diseases that cause dementia.”

For further reading, we previously reported about similar CBD gummies scams incorrectly tying other celebrities to the products, including country star Reba McEntire, Fox News host Dana Perino and “Family Feud” host Steve Harvey.