Michael Jordan

Are social media posts claiming that a long list of celebrities have each said "powerful pro-Israel American billionaires" are working to undermine their careers real? No, that's not true: None of the celebrities named in the posts made any such statement. The claims came from AI-generated Facebook posts produced by a spam operation managed from Vietnam. Among the false posts…

Did Thai golfer Atthaya "Jeeno" Thitikul say 'don't touch my family' at a news conference with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt? No, that's not true: No media outlets reported that about the golfer or any other celebrity, including actors Robert De Niro and Tom Hanks and gospel singer Guy Penrod, who was rumored to have made the identical statement…

Did Cher, Patrick Mahomes, Bono and other celebrities pull business deals with Amazon over founder Jeff Bezos' "quiet alignment with Trump," sending messages to Bezos that all began "Wake up, Jeff"? No, that's not true: The posts tell nearly identical stories featuring those and dozens of other famous names all quitting Amazon. The clickbait fictions were published by a network…

Did basketball great Michael Jordan call for a ban on the pride flag from U.S. schools and sports? No, that's not true: The website that published the article has a satire disclaimer and is known for publishing fabricated content. The article also identifies its content as "SATIRE." No credible reports support the assertion that Jordan called to ban pride flags.…

Did basketball star Michael Jordan endorse Donald Trump for president? No, that's not true: Jordan's management told Lead Stories that there was "absolutely no truth" to this claim. At the time of writing, Jordan had endorsed neither Trump or Kamala Harris for president. The claim appeared in a post on X (archived here) on November 3, 2024. The caption read:…

Does a viral video montage show actual tornados and damage from Hurricane Milton in Florida in October 2024? No, that's not true: The montage is a compilation of older, unrelated clips. Some of them show signs of digital manipulation. The claim that the video depicted authentic scenes from Hurricane Milton appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on October…

Did former NBA star Michael Jordan turn down a $200 million offer to do a commercial with current NBA star LeBron James, saying he would "never [work] with this woke creep?" No, that's not true: This story came from a website that calls itself satirical and "fake news." A representative for Jordan told Lead Stories there was "no truth" to…

Did Michael Jordan say that kids who "can afford $8 cups of coffee" can also afford "to pay their own student loans" as a viral post on Facebook said? No, that's not true: the quote first appeared on a Facebook page that is part of a network of self-described satire websites and pages known for publishing made-up stories. If a…

Did Michael Jordan reject a $400 million offer from Disney, saying he does not "collaborate with companies aligned with woke ideologies"? No, that's not true: An AI detector found that the article that said so was 99.9 percent likely to be AI-generated. The media didn't report that Jordan or his representatives rejected an offer from Disney. The claim appeared in…

Did Indian billionaire and businessman N.R. Narayana Murthy endorse a quantum computing software that uses quantum AI to trade stocks? No, that's not true: A fake voice has been used in a video on social media to make it appear Murthy made this endorsement. Lead Stories could not find any evidence to substantiate that Murthy made these statements. We also…