FACTCHECK: Is this image of John Lennon and Che Guevara playing guitar together?

An image shared on Facebook shows Che Guevara, a communist revolutionary playing guitar alongside the late British musician John Lennon.

Verdict: False

The image is digitally altered. Wayne Gabriel is the person to the right of the photo, and not Guevara.

Fact Check:

Guevara was a communist revolutionary who aided Fidel Castro’s rise to power during the Cuban Revolution before being killed in Bolivia in 1967, according to Britannica. Lennon was a member of the English band The Beatles and was assassinated in 1980, history.com reports.

An image that was shared via Facebook shows a photo in black and white of Lennon and Che Guevara playing their guitars together. The caption of the photo reads: “John Lennon & Che Guevara sat together, playing their guitars.” The image has been digitally altered. The actual image shows Lennon and Gabriel, a guitarist, playing together in the 1970s. The image was taken by music photographer Bob Gruen, according to its description on the website erenow.net. Guevara appears to be simply digitally glued onto Gabriel’s head. Bandsmen noticed the connection formed between John and Wayne ‘Tex Gabriel. They spent ‘hours sat cross-legged’ in studio sessions,” says the description of the image on erenow.net.

A reverse image search reveals the altered image has circulated online since at least 2012. (RELATED: ‘Once Given, Never Forgotten’ – Did John Lennon Write This Quote About Love? )

This is not the first time an altered image of a musician has circulated on social media. Check Your Fact previously debunked an image from February 2022 that allegedly showed musicians Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur and Kurt Cobain in a vehicle together.