Babylon Bee

Did Taylor Swift lose 17 million followers after posting an endorsement for Kamala Harris on her Instagram account? No, that's not true: Numbers show that Swift actually gained followers shortly after her endorsement. The account that posted this claim has "#Satire" and "#Parody" in their bio. The claim appeared in a now-deleted post on X (archived here) on September 15,…

Did American golfer Tiger Woods refer to Kamala Harris' manner of speech as a "fake black accent," calling it "embarrassing and extremely offensive"? No, that's not true: The online rumor was first published by a self-labeled parody and satire account. Lead Stories found no confirmation that Woods ever said that. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X,…

Did Disney and Google buy the rights to the first King James Version of the Bible? No, that's not true: No sources are cited in the Instagram post where the claim is stated. The claim first appeared in a 2018 article from The Babylon Bee, a well-known satirical website. Lead Stories could not find any supporting evidence that would corroborate…

Did a Mexican nonprofit issue a flyer that features its logo and encourages migrants along the southern border of the U.S. to vote for President Joe Biden? No, that's not true: Gaby Zavala, the founder of the nonprofit, Resource Center Matamoros, told The Associated Press the organization does not know the origin of the flyers. She added that her group…

Did professional golfer John Daly make a derogatory/homophobic statement about professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe and her performance at the 2023 World Cup? No, that's not true: The comment was posted on a parody social media account, not on Daly's official social media pages nor in any legitimate news sources. Playing for the U.S. women's team in the 2023 World…

Did CNN praise the Taliban for wearing masks in Afghanistan? No, that's not true: The image of a CNN chyron claiming Taliban fighters were wearing masks as they attacked is fake -- it is from the Babylon Bee, a conservative satire website. The claim appeared as a post (archived here) where it was published on Facebook on August 14, 2021.…

Did New Zealand female weightlifter Laurel Hubbard suffer from a testicular injury just weeks before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics? No, that's not true: the claim is lifted from from The Babylon Bee, a satirical website that writes about "Christian stuff, political stuff, and everyday life." The story, titled "Female Weightlifter Suffers Tragic Testicle Injury Just Weeks Before Tokyo Olympics," got…

Is the Chicago Police Department now requiring its officers to ask for consent before arresting criminals? No, that's not true: The claim came from a satirical website, and a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department said the claim is "not accurate." The story originated in The Babylon Bee, a conservative news satire website (archived here). It was then published on…

Did CNN run a caption saying the shooter who killed 10 people in Boulder, Colorado, on March 22, 2021, was factually Arabic but morally white? No, that's not true: the screenshot with the caption originated on a satire site but took on a life of its own when it went viral independently and was taken to be real by several…

Did the Coca-Cola company discontinue "Vanilla Coke" in an effort to fight white supremacy? No, that's not true: This story, a satirical spin-off of a real controversy regarding online diversity training and Coca-Cola, was published originally by the well-known satire website The Babylon Bee. The story has been duplicated and spread by several other websites and blogs that are not…