Fact Check: Suspicious minds should question story about Elvis and Danny Sullivan

Yahoo

21 hours ago

Claim:
Elvis Presley stopped a Sept. 15, 1975, performance to meet a dying 7-year-old boy.
Rating:
A rumor that circulated online in August 2025 claimed Elvis Presley once stopped a performance after hearing a woman in the audience yelling to him about her young dying son. According to the story, 7-year-old Danny Sullivan's parents took him to see Presley as a dying wish, with the rock 'n' roll crooner stopping everything to meet and sing to the boy.
Further, the rumor purported that Danny sang a duet with his hero on stage and that meeting his hero helped him live six more months.
The rumor spread on social media, particularly Facebook (archived, archived) and X (archived). One Facebook account called "Top Golden Oldies Song List" that posted the story received more than 4,000 reactions. The post displayed a collage of Elvis imagery, including one black and white photo where the singer appears to be onstage stage holding a young boy in his arms.
The post began, "Elvis STOPPED entire concert for dying 7-year-old — what happened next left 18,000 in TEARS."
Elvis STOPPED entire concert for dying 7-year-old — what happened next left 18,000 in TEARS
Elvis Presley was halfway through Can't Help Falling in Love when a desperate mother's cry stopped him cold. On September 15, 1975, in front of 18,000 fans, the King of Rock and Roll learned that a 7-year-old boy in the audience had only hours to live—and his last wish was to see Elvis sing. What happened next became one of the most unforgettable moments in music history, leaving every person in the arena in tears and changing Elvis forever.
Some posts featured links in top comments leading to articles hosted by WordPress blogs, such as one advertisement-filled story hosted on a website called "Oldies Goldies Oasis." The rumor appeared to originate with a YouTube video that received more than 1 million views and also featured the same alleged photograph of Presley with the boy.
However, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no credible media outlets reporting about Presley and a boy named Danny Sullivan in 1975. Given Presley's stature at the time, prominent news media outlets of the era would likely have widely reported on this rumor. Further, Presley's iconic pop culture status — particularly following his death in 1977 — would undoubtedly have resulted in such a tale being reported long before August 2025.
Rather, the person or people who authored the story fabricated the entire account as one of hundreds of inspirational tales that depicted celebrities and athletes performing inspiring acts of kindness. The same YouTube channel, titled "Elvis Presley: The Untold Legacy," featured a variety of stories about Presley with titles such as "Elvis pulled random girl on stage — what she said made him CRY during concert" and "Elvis's LAST concert revealed the heartbreaking TRUTH — nobody was ready."
They aimed to earn advertising revenue from YouTube, as well as websites linked from the aforementioned Facebook posts. The story about Presley amounted to fiction.
First, the description of the YouTube video from which the rumor originated stated the video was made using "altered or synthetic content" and that "sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated."
For example, the picture from the YouTube video that was also shared in the social media posts featured visible signs of being generated by artificial intelligence, particularly the limbs of the cheering audience members in the bottom left of the image that appear distorted and blended together.
Further, according to the exhaustive fan-created Elvis archive ElvisConcerts.com, no Elvis performance took place on Sept. 15, 1975, let alone one specifically occurring at the Midsouth Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee. According to ConcertArchives.org, a comprehensive user-submitted history of concert dates, there was no performance at the Midsouth Coliseum on that date.
The story about Presley and Danny Sullivan very much resembled glurge, which Dictionary.com defined as "stories, often sent by email, that are supposed to be true and uplifting, but which are often fabricated and sentimental."
For further reading about glurge, Snopes previously reported on claims that Paul McCartney visited Phil Collins in the hospital and sang "Hey Jude."
Elvis Presley In Concert. https://www.elvisconcerts.com/concerts/dboutput.php?search_tourref=search_tourref&search_month=September&search_day=15&search_year=1975&search_city=search_city&search_state=search_state&search_suit=search_suit&search_musician=search_musician&search_song=search_song&search_pics=search_pics&search_cd=search_cd&search_vid=search_vid&search_aud=search_aud&search_photo=search_photo. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.
"Elvis Presley's Death: The Details Behind the King of Rock 'n' Roll's Passing." People.Com, https://people.com/music/elvis-presley-death-everything-to-know/. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025.