In April 2023, claims began to spread that Disney+ had greenlit a show about a girl who becomes pregnant after having a one-night stand with the devil.
The first social media post we found about the claim was posted to the Facebook page Donald Trump For President on April 10, 2023. The account posted an emoji of a woman facepalming, along with a link to an article about the series from Red State Observer, which described itself as a conservative news publication on its website.
We also found unrelated posts about the claim on social media platforms like Twitter and TikTok.
"Pauline" is a real show greenlit by Disney+, and does feature a teenage girl becoming pregnant after having a one-night stand with the devil. On April 5, 2023, Deadline reported the show's plot to be about:
Pauline follows the eponymous protagonist, an 18-year-old who accidentally becomes pregnant – from a one-night stand. With school stress, the climate crisis and the downfall of society weighing heavily on her mind, something she doesn't need at all right now is catching feelings, especially not for her one-night stand Lukas, who, as it turns out, is the devil himself.
IMDB also described the show similarly:
Pauline 18-year-old- accidentally becomes pregnant from a one-night stand with Lukas, who, as it turns out, is the devil himself. The pregnancy gives Pauline supernatural powers and an epic battle between good and evil ensues.
On the Instagram account for production company bildundtonfabrik, we found a post announcing the show in German. Using Google Translate, the post also described the show as being about a teenage girl becoming pregnant after a one-night stand with the devil. The caption for the post, translated from German using Instagram's translate feature, said filming had begun in February 2023.
At the time of this writing, the website for the production company also included a link to the Deadline article.
We previously fact-checked a claim related to Disney and the devil —the FXX animated comedy series "Little Demon," which was created by a company owned by Disney.