Did NBA star Anthony Edwards donate a $514,000 game check to ICE? No, that's not true: The account that posted the message is run by a writer for 'The Simpsons' using the name "Gene Parmesan," a character from 'Arrested Development.' Edwards made a comment about ICE in Minnesota that was criticized for not being more forceful against the raids, but…
Is Rob Reiner's name on the "Epstein List"? No, that's not true: An image that lists 165 celebrities and politicians, including Reiner, who purportedly visited "Epstein Island" is fake. The actual Epstein flight logs obtained by Lead Stories and the archive of Jeffrey Epstein emails and text messages released by a congressional committee contain no references to Reiner. There is…
Did a boy scout named Eric Langford disappear in the Airondirac forests of New York State in 1989 and did he mysteriously return in 2001? No, that's not true: The fictional tale about a kidnapping appeared on a YouTube channel that published fake stories about mysterious disappearances in the past. Several details in the story don't match up with reality…
Is the Securities and Exchange Commission investigating 10 Democrats, including former President Joe Biden, for fraud and insider trading? No, that's not true: There is no evidence the SEC is investigating any of the 10 people whose images are included in the post. The claim originated from a satirical Facebook page that carried a satire disclaimer. The owner of the…
Did New York City's Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani, his team or any credible media outlets announce that the incoming city administration plans to convert Trump Tower into a homeless shelter? No, that's not true: Lead Stories did not find a confirmation supporting the existence of such a plan on the pages officially affiliated with Mamdani. No credible media outlets reported the…
Did retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz publicly promise to "blow his brains out on live TV" if Zohran Mamdani wins the 2025 mayoral election in New York City? No, that's not true: Dershowitz denied that on his social media account. A search for the origins of the image showing the purported quote led to a summer 2025 story…
Did Arizona teachers mock the murder of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk by wearing 'Problem Solved' T-shirts covered in what looked like artificial blood? No, that's not true: According to the school district's superintendent, in a since-deleted Facebook post reported on by local media outlets, the T-shirts predated the assassination of Turning Point USA Co-Founder Kirk by more than…
Did Andrew Yang post on x that British musician Ozzy Osborne was "a true American original"? Yes, that's true: Yang, an entrepreneur who unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States in 2020 and the New York City mayorship a year later, did write that on X. The edit history of the post shows he later edited the post to…
Did Megan Byron, the wife of a former Astronomer CEO, issue a "formal" statement saying that she "will not be engaging in performative forgiveness" and instead "retained counsel" and "reviewed holdings"? No, that's not true: The viral post of a statement attributed to her remains unverified. No credible media outlets reported that it was authentic. The claim appeared in a…
Is a viral story about two missing hikers named "Sarah Bennett" and "Andrew Miller" found dead in a cave in 2019 consistent with reality? No, that's not true: Several details in the tale about the missing couple from Colorado don't add up, such as a non-existent newspaper quote of a sister named "Emily Bennett" in the Denver Post and an…
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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