Does a video show a Disney park character in a Minnie Mouse costume smoking and giving the middle finger during a break? No, that's not true: Videos online show this same man in the same suit standing on the Las Vegas Strip, where people are known to dress up as various characters and solicit tips from tourists. There is no…
You might have seen or heard rumors about ICE agents being deployed at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy, to help provide security. The Lead Stories Rome office looked into what is actually happening, so you know what is going on if you see social media posts about it. Agents from the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI),…
Did Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey tell Vice President J.D. Vance to "go fuck a couch" in an X post? No, that's not true: Vance did quote a real post from Frey on X in a discussion about law enforcement and other people needing to feel safe calling 911, but the reply suggesting intercourse with a piece of furniture came from…
Did Elliot Forhan, a Democrat running to be Ohio's attorney general, post a video on TikTok in which he says "I'm going to kill Donald Trump"? Yes, that's true: Forhan, who served one term in the Ohio legislature, shared a 41-second-long video on his campaign's TikTok account. He said if elected he would put Trump on trial before an Ohio…
Did a social media post correctly report that anti-ICE protesters at a hotel in Minneapolis started "beating up the staff because two ICE officers were staying there" and that local police were absent from the scene? No, that's not true: A receptionist told Lead Stories that the hotel's employees weren't harmed and that the police were present during the protest.…
Was Evan Kilgore the federal agent who shot and killed U.S. citizen and registered nurse Alex Pretti during an immigration enforcement raid in Minneapolis? No, that's not true: Kilgore denied he worked for immigration enforcement agencies and threatened to sue those who spread the claim on social media. Lead Stories found nothing suggesting that the conservative commentator had built a…
Are the stories of Helen Keller's life achievements just a made up scam? No, that's not true: A vague conspiracy aims to erase the well-documented life achievements of Helen Keller. The American author and social activist was both deaf and blind from an illness in early childhood. She was a public figure who traveled and mainly communicated through an interpreter…
Did White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt say that "Trump mistook Greenland for Iceland" because "they share the same border"? No, that's not true: The internet rumor attributing those words to her originated from a satire account. Lead Stories found no credible sources citing the quote in question as Leavitt's actual words. The claim originated from a post (archived here)…
Is a five-year-old Minnesota boy's father a "criminal illegal alien" who abandoned him in a running car at their home, running away when confronted by Immigration & Customs Enforcement officers? Here's what we know so far: School officials who were at the scene Jan. 20, 2026 when the boy and his father were taken into custody say that's not true.…
Did your favorite sports star "shock fans" or "shake" the league by "publicly" or "flatly" refusing to wear an LGBT Rainbow Armband because it would turn the game "into a political circus"? No, that's not true: The claim was made about at least 95 football, soccer, basketball, baseball, and hockey players in posts published on dozens of fake Facebook fan…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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