For example when my parents lived in Northern Va (father worked for DOD), he and a neighbor (whose agency's business was to know these things) told us some juicy things about the Clintons. Yeah, right. We thought it was gossip.
After the Monica Lewinsky story broke, we found out the gossip was GOSSIP.
I hope your gossip is GOSSIP!!!
And then there is gossip that is tongue and cheek that has nothing to do with being right, but rather to point out the possibility of the absurd being true. For example, you say you hope it isn’t true, but with this president you can’t be sure. Even though I created the gossip out of the thin air between my ears, it could be true.