“Guess who is the marketing CEO of Zoom? Pelosi’s daughter/Newsome’s cousin.”
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Zoom exec is not related to Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom
If Your Time is short
- Janine Pelosi, Zoom’s chief marketing officer, is not related to Nancy Pelosi or Gavin Newsom, according to the company.
Most schools in California have not reopened for in-person learning, and more than 90% of the state’s 6.3 million public school students are doing only distance learning as the coronavirus pandemic endures.
The Los Angeles school district, the second-largest in the country, has partnered with Zoom for online classes. But several Facebook posts have looked askance at such alliances in California.
"Anyone in California find it funny that almost every school district is using Zoom to have class," one Facebook post says before misspelling the California governor’s name. "Guess who is the marketing CEO of Zoom? Pelosi’s daughter/Newsome’s cousin."
The post also shows the beginning of a link to a CNBC story about "Zoom’s marketing chief on the company’s rise through the pandemic."
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
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We reached out to Zoom about the claim.
Colleen Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the company, told us that Janine Pelosi is Zoom’s chief marketing officer, but she’s not related to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is from California, or the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom.
The CNBC story that’s referenced in the Facebook post with the partial link discusses Janine Pelosi, but it makes no mention of Nancy Pelosi or Newsom.
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Nancy Pelosi has five children: four daughters — Nancy Corinne Prowda, Christine Pelosi, Jacqueline Kenneally and Alexandra Pelosi — and one son, Paul Pelosi.
There is a connection between Nancy Pelosi’s family and Newsom’s family, as FactCheck.org has reported. Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law, Ron Pelosi, was married to Gavin Newsom’s aunt, making Ron Pelosi Newsom’s uncle by marriage.
But none of those family connections make either politician kin to Zoom’s marketing officer.
We rate this Facebook post False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, Sept. 19, 2020
CNN, Most California school classrooms cannot reopen while coronavirus numbers spike, July 17, 2020
Zoom, Zoom selected by Los Angeles Unified School District, July 2, 2020
The New York Times, How one district got its students back into classrooms, Sept. 20, 2020
CNBC, ‘I don’t know exactly what the secret is’: Zoom’s marketing chief on the company’s rise through the pandemic, July 24, 2020
PolitiFact, Nancy Pelosi’s daughter isn’t on the Kennedy Center Board, April 3, 2020
FactCheck.org, Social posts distort facts on political relationships, Nov. 20, 2019
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Zoom exec is not related to Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom
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