Did Erika Kirk lose custody of her children, as indicated by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in an interview? No, that's not true: Rep. Luna said in a podcast interview that Kirk "lost her kids," but later said she "meant to say the kids lost their dad." There is no evidence to conclude that the widow of Charlie Kirk lost custody…
False claims about the Charlie Kirk assassination, the Jeffrey Epstein files, and purported verbal gaffes by President Trump topped the list of most-read Lead Stories fact checks in 2025. Here are our most read fact checks of the past year, reflecting our reader's interest in finding out the truth about various viral stories. If you see something suspicious in 2026,…
Is Kid Rock donating the proceeds of his next five shows to Turning Point USA in Charlie Kirk's honor? No, that's not true: The story originated on a satirical Facebook page that clearly labels its content as fake. The page's owner is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing fabricated posts. As of Dec. 18, 2025, Kid Rock has…
Did Rob Reiner say he wished the would-be Donald Trump assassin "hadn't missed"? No, that's not true: A source close to the family told Lead Stories the claim is "nonsense." Lead Stories found no evidence that Reiner ever said he wished the gunman had killed Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024. Social media posts claiming that "liberals are all butt…
Is a "shocking" video of Charlie Kirk murder defendant Tyler Robinson and his lawyer talking in court before a hearing in the case real? No, that's not true: The news media feed from the same moment and the same camera captured an inaudible whispered conversation. The video is a satirical attack on podcaster Candace Owens and the theories about the…
Is "Tech world on fire" over news that Elon Musk bought Facebook in order to "delete it"? No, that's not true: Meta (which owns Facebook) had not, as of this writing, announced or documented a sale, as is required of publicly traded companies. Lead Stories found no credible news reports of an impending sale to Musk. The site that generated…
Is there a rising number of $2.8 million statues erected or underway to honor people like Dolly Parton, George Strait, Bruce Springsteen, Bill Clinton, Shania Twain, Jimmy Page, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Waltz King André Rieu, and others? No, that's not true: Multiple social media posts using nearly identical language and the $2.8M figure have cranked out the story to appeal…
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…
This is what fact checkers call a "prebunk." A prebunk is like a debunk (another word for fact check), only it's an advance notice of an anticipated false claim. This article is intended to inoculate you from future outbreaks of a specific type of false claims about your favorite entertainment celebrities, sports stars, and politicians. We call this "Viet Spam"…
Did ABC cancel "The View" and replace it with "The Charlie Kirk Show" hosted by the late conservative activist's widow, Erika Kirk, and other people, including Megyn Kelly? No, none of that is true: The show continued to be on air after the beginning of this wave of online rumors. Neither the hosts nor the network made a public announcement…
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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