
Attention Iowa Citians: Despite a rumor to the contrary, there is no evidence that Leonardo DiCaprio is buying a home in Iowa City.
The rumor was launched by the O’Reilly Post, which calls itself a “fantasy news site.” It published a post saying that the recent Academy Award winner for Best Actor was buying a home in Iowa City:
“I’ve accomplished a lot in my career and I feel like I just want to slow down a little bit and moving to a place like Iowa City with its wonderful and friendly people is exactly what I want in my life right now,” DiCaprio told the magazine. “I’m not giving up on my career. I just want to move to a place that feels so different than what I’ve been used to all of my life. For me, that place is Iowa City.”
The O’Reilly Post says that all of its “news articles” are “satire or pure fantasy” (so in other words, total nonsense). But some social media users who shared the post took the information at face value and responded with sincere hope and excitement:
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO IS MOVING TO IOWA CITY LORD HAVE MERCY ON MU FUCKING SOUL THIS IS WHERE I LIVE pic.twitter.com/Rm8rH85oot
— Gaby :) (@ouatdemii) March 14, 2016
@LeoDiCaprio are you really moving to Iowa City? if that's true I'm honestly going to have a heart attack and cry for the rest of my life
— paige ! (@faIsettozustin) March 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/carliedocekal5/status/709380094054129664
Wait, why couldn't Leonardo DiCaprio move to Iowa City the 4 years I lived there?
— Claire Augspurger (@ClaireeMichelle) March 14, 2016
This isn’t the first time that DiCaprio has had an Iowa connection. In late February, ahead of the Oscars, the Des Moines Register ran a piece entitled, “How Iowa started Leo DiCaprio’s Oscar run.” As recently as last week, DiCaprio was photographed in what appeared to be an Iowa baseball cap.
While DiCaprio owns homes in Los Angeles and New York City, there is not evidence — yet — that he has purchased property in Iowa City.