Celebrities

Did a $100 million lawsuit filed by Gavin Newsom against Nick Shirley, Willie Nelson, and a dozen other celebrities collapse after whistleblower testimony? No, that's not true: The story that California's governor filed a defamation lawsuit against a long list of people who "publicly criticized state-level financial handling" was made up by a network of foreign-run Facebook pages and websites.…

We agree with some very prominent people. Here's our proposal... Fact Checking Day on April 2, 2026 marks almost a year since Lead Stories published our last fact check as part of Meta's Third-Party Fact Checking Partnership. Since that day we've published over 1500 fact checks on our U.S. website on topics ranging from fake Epstein Files emails mentioning Elon…

Did Bad Bunny and other famous people including Blake Shelton, Cardi B, Tom Jones, Andrea Bocelli say that they were supporting peaceful demonstrators via the National Defense Fund? No, that's not true: The claim was an example of so-called "Viet Spam" campaigns of nearly identical made-up clickbait stories, each featuring a different famous person, created to drive traffic to web…

Did single dad Michael Torres get 199 points instead of the 200 needed to win $20,000 in Family Feud Fast Money to pay for his daughter's cancer treatment? No, that's not true: The story was generated by artificial intelligence tools by a spam operation Lead Stories has identified as based in Vietnam. There is no credible documentation that this story…

Did California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticize Nick Shirley, or did Sen. John Neely Kennedy criticize Adam Schiff, saying "Lock him up for lying to Congress, abusing power, and betraying the public trust!"? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories mentioning those and other names were published by a network of foreign websites and Facebook pages. A search of Google News…

Did Erika Kirk announce she was opening an orphanage in honor of Charlie Kirk? No, that's not true: A video on TikTok repeats a false claim which began circulating on social media in late October 2025. There is no record of Erika Kirk announcing plans to build a school for orphans in honor of her late husband. The copy/paste posts…

Is there a television special called "Seeking the Truth, Finding Justice" about Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre in which celebrities -- from Pope Leo XIV to Barbra Streisand -- invested over $246,000? No, that's not true: There is no evidence of such a TV show or that anyone contributed to making it a reality. The claim is an example of so-called…

Did Keanu Reeves, Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, and many others say that children should be raised according to "traditional values" avoiding "LGBTQ themes"? No, that's not true: This is a fake ragebait story claiming that many fans are now boycotting celebrities over something they never said. Nearly identical stories mentioning those and other names were published by a…

Did Carol Burnett and other celebrities say Donald Trump "has been abused and lied about since taking office" and "stood like a lion against a pack of jackals"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Burnett and the others ever said that about Trump. The claim was an example of so-called "Viet Spam" campaigns of nearly identical made-up…

Did Keanu Reeves, Clint Black, Billy Joel and other celebrities suddenly all discover that a woman who once cared for them was still working part time at 85 to pay her rent? No, that's not true: The sob story about all of them "stepping in" and donating a "permanent home" and "financial support" was made up by a network of…