Death Hoax

Was Alex Pretti fired over complaints of inappropriate conduct with patients three months before federal agents fatally shot him on a Minneapolis street? No, that's not true: The claim was started by a spam factory based in Vietnam that uses artificial tools to publish fake articles promoted by Facebook pages also managed from Vietnam. The article named the wrong hospital…

Was Alex Pretti's nursing license expired when he was shot to death by ICE agents on a Minneapolis street on January 24, 2026? No, that's not true: The Minnesota Board of Nursing's online credential search webpage showed Pretti's registered nursing license, which was issued on January 19, 2021, was set to expire on March 31, 2026. An image shared in…

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…

When I received an invitation last month to come to Macedonia to talk with the fact checkers and journalists at the Metamorphosis Foundation about Lead Stories' experience with our automatically generated short-form fact checking videos, I didn't hesitate for a moment. Ever since 2019 when I wrote about a network of Macedonian fake news websites operating out of the town…

Has Georgia Bulldog and Minnesota Vikings quarterback legend Fran Tarkenton died as of November 1, 2025? No, that's not true: There is no real reporting that Tarkenton has died and the claim that fans have gathered in Athens, Georgia, to mourn his death are not supported by any evidence. The story making the claim was generated by an artificial intelligence…

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"…

Has the Dairy Queen where a photo possibly shows Tyler Robinson visited hours after he allegedly shot Charlie Kirk to death been suspiciously shut down? No, that's not true: A photographer sent by Lead Stories to the DQ in Orem, Utah, confirmed with an employee that it was still operating on September 29, 2025. A self-described investigative journalist who posted…

Did singer Bob Dylan just "ignite a firestorm" with a single sentence about Charlie Kirk and was that sentence "If you want people to speak kindly after you're gone, speak kindly while you're alive"? No, that's not true: Dylan is just the latest victim in a series of Facebook posts falsely attributing the same quote to various celebrities. According to…

Is there evidence that Erika Kirk was a recruiter for Jeffrey Epstein or that she had her husband, Charlie Kirk, killed to shut him up about it? No, that's not true: The claim appears to be based on another false claim that Erika Kirk operated a charity in Romania that was used for trafficking orphaned children internationally. Lead Stories previously…

Did Metallica vocalist James Hetfield commit to pay for the education of Kirk's children, as multiple social media posts said? No, that's not true: There were no news reports or public statements backing up any of that. Hetfield has made no such announcement, nor have other celebrities whom social media engagement campaigns falsely claim are making the same "commitment." The…