A Still from season one of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

A viral post is wrongly claiming Rings of Power is being cancelled over LGBTQ+ diversity. (Prime Video)

A viral post incorrectly claiming that Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is being cancelled over LGBTQ+ diversity has racked up 23.5 million views on X/Twitter.

The post was shared by William Wolfe, the executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership – an organisation that has previously referred to homosexuality as a “perversion” comparable to paedophilia.

The post suggested, in jest, that the Lord of the Rings spin-off series had been cancelled after the Elon Musk-led US Department of Government Efficiency cut funding for the promotion of LGBTQ+ identity on Middle-earth, the fictional land where the J. R. R. Tolkien franchise is set.

“BREAKING: Amazon Prime cancels Rings of Power Season 3 after USAID grant funding for ‘Increased Racial Diversity and LGBT Representation among the Peoples of Middle Earth’ gets axed by @DOGE,” Wolfe wrote.

Despite the evident disinformation, the post garnered 23.5 million views at the time of writing, less than 12 hours after being published.

In a follow-up post, Wolfe said his claim was “satire”, but urged American Christians to join him in his mission to “get USAID-style woke nonsense out of the American church.”

The United States Agency for International Development, known as USAID, is an independent federal agency which provides humanitarian aid programmes and civilian support to countries around the world.

Its work involves supporting countries outside of North America experiencing conflict, poverty, and disease. However, Donald Trump signed an executive order back in January to pause most foreign aid for 90-days, suggesting that the “foreign aid industry” doesn’t align with the American interests.

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He has also described senior officials at USAID as “radical lunatics”. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also falsely claimed that USAID had spent “$47,000 (on) a transgender opera in Colombia.”

While Prime Video is yet to officially renew The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, showrunners are pretty positive about its future following the release of season two last summer.

Poppy (L) and Nori (R) in Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. (Amazon Studios / Prime Video)Poppy (L) and Nori (R) in Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. (Amazon Studios / Prime Video)

J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay confirmed that they were “working on” new episodes last summer, and then again in December.

“The answer is yes, we’re very excited, but we can’t say anything other than we’re working on season three,” McKay told GamesRadar. “We have a story we think is really strong, and we’re hoping to turn it around as fast as possible.”

The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power is based on material from the appendices of Tolkien’s original novels, and is set thousands of years before the events of the famed film trilogy.

The series, though a hit with many critics and queer fans, doesn’t feature any explicit LGBTQ+ representation, though McKay has previously hinted that existing characters do sit under the LGBTQ+ umbrella.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is streaming now on Prime Video.