If you were to believe some posts on social media, the billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey — who lives in Maui part-time — was accused of callously refusing to let evacuees use her private road to shorten their travel time. But it's typically a bad idea to believe what you see on social media.

Oprah Winfrey's representative and the president of Haleakala Ranch confirmed that a private road on Maui is owned by the ranch and not Winfrey.

Winfrey has assured fans that she opened up her private road in Hawaii "as soon as" she heard the tsunami warnings.