Fact Check: Claim Paul McCartney visited Phil Collins in hospital hits a bum note
In early August 2025, former member of The Beatles Paul McCartney visited musician Phil Collins in a hospital and performed "Hey Jude" for him.
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In early August 2025, a rumor circulated online that The Beatles legend Paul McCartney visited Genesis drummer and frontman Phil Collins in a London hospital and performed "Hey Jude" for him on his guitar.
For example, on Aug. 3, a Facebook page called Rock & Roll Universe shared the claim (archived), amassing more than 88,000 reactions and more than 16,000 shares of its post as of this writing.
The post featured two images of McCartney embracing Collins in what appeared to be a hospital room and another showing the former Beatle playing guitar while the Genesis star was resting in a hospital bed surrounded by medical staff. The caption read:
This afternoon, London's hospital halls fell unusually silent as Paul McCartney quietly arrived, carrying the same old guitar that had followed him through decades. On the fifth floor, Phil Collins lay still — frail and pale after months battling severe complications from spinal and heart conditions. As Paul entered the room, Phil's eyes slowly opened, his lips trembling without sound. Without a word, Paul sat down and began to strum "Hey Jude" — gently, with deep emotion. Each lyric poured warmth into the sterile room, moving the nurses to tears, while a single tear slid down Phil's cheek. When the final chord faded, Paul took his old friend's hand and whispered, "We're still a band, even if the only stage left is life itself." The story has since spread among musicians like a final love song between two legends.
(Rock & Roll Universe/Facebook)
The rumor appeared elsewhere on Facebook (archived) and on Instagram (archived). 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 humansofgeorgia.net.
Snopes readers also emailed us to ask whether the claim was true, with one noting that the social media posts contained "suspicious-looking images."
However, searches of Bing (archived), DuckDuckGo (archived) and Google produced no evidence of any news media outlets reporting on a story about McCartney visiting Collins in a hospital and serenading him with "Hey Jude." Prominent news media outlets would have widely reported this moment if it were true.
Rather, the person or people who wrote the story fabricated the entire tale as one of hundreds of inspirational tales about music legends. They aimed to earn advertising revenue on websites linked from the aforementioned Facebook posts. As we will lay out later in this article, the story about McCartney visiting Collins in hospital amounted to fiction.
An examination of the Rock & Roll Universe (archived) Facebook page's posts revealed multiple indications of images and text generated using artificial intelligence (AI) software. For example, one post (archived) featured an image of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan singing on Collins' bedside. However, Sightengine, an AI-detection website, determined that there was a 99% probability that someone "likely" generated the image with AI.
There were also signs that the image of McCartney playing the guitar was AI-generated. First, he was holding the instrument as if he were right-handed, despite being known to play left-handed (archived). Second, the guitar only had five strings, despite acoustic guitars having six strings. In addition, McCartney's right hand only appeared to have three fingers and a thumb.
Snopes contacted a manager of the Rock & Roll Universe Facebook page to ask about the fictional stories displayed on its feed and we will update this story if we receive more information.
Separately, Snopes also reached out to Collins' representatives to inquire about his current health status. In late July 2025, People magazine reported (archived) that he was recovering from knee surgery, though it did not specify whether he remained hospitalized. We will update this article if we receive a response.
These stories all very much resembled glurge, which Dictionary.com defines as "stories, often sent by email, that are supposed to be true and uplifting, but which are often fabricated and sentimental."
For further reading, Snopes previously reported on another story claiming that Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant built shelters for victims of the Texas floods in early July 2025.Dictionary.com. "Glurge." Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/glurge. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
Huberman, Bond and David Emery. "Snopestionary: What Does 'Glurge' Mean?" Snopes, 21 Aug. 2021, https://www.snopes.com/articles/363643/what-does-glurge-mean/. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
Emery, David and Jessica Lee. "4 Tips for Spotting AI-Generated Pics." Snopes, 16 Apr. 2023, https://www.snopes.com/articles/464595/artificial-intelligence-media-literacy/. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
Shan, Cindy. "Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant visited Texas to build shelters for flood victims?" Snopes, 14 July 2025, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/texas-floods-robert-plant/. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
The Structure of the Acoustic Guitar：Six Strings, Each with a Higher Pitch - Musical Instrument Guide - Yamaha Corporation. https://www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/acoustic_guitar/mechanism/mechanism002.html. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
Kolgraf, Jackie. "14 of the Greatest Left-Handed Musicians, from Jimi Hendrix to Kurt Cobain." SiriusXM, 9 Aug. 2023, https://www.siriusxm.com/blog/left-handed-musicians. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
Kaplan, Ilana. "Phil Collins Recovering from Knee Surgery in Hospital amid Hospice Care Speculation, Rep Confirms." People, 28 July 2025, https://people.com/phil-collins-recovering-knee-surgery-hospital-hospice-care-speculation-11780139. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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