History

Did TV host Johnny Carson comfort dying woman Barbara Martinez while taping the March 17, 1983, episode of NBC's Tonight Show? No, that's not true: Social media posts about it did not include the actual recording of the purported event, sharing an AI-generated image instead. Lead Stories found no credible sources ever mentioning the supposed dance. The claim originated from…

Was Enoch Burke arrested again in 2026 for refusing to use "they" pronoun for a student? No, that's not true: Burke was arrested outside Wilson's Hospital School in Multyfarnham, Ireland on Jan. 19, 2026 for again violating a court order that he stay away from the school. Irish newspapers operating independently of one another reported that the High Court which…

Did Stephen Colbert "reveal" Donald Trump's "1970 Wharton IQ test"? No, that's not true: This claim and its variations originated from accounts that warned their audiences that they do not post factually accurate content. The rumor spread in variations that contradicted each other on the name of the TV host, school, test type and even the name of the person…

Did a guest in a clip from French TV channel LCI say Ukraine sent false strategic info to US intelligence services which they then observed Russian forces acting upon? No, that's not true: The video clip with guest Vincent Crouzet was about mounting distrust between Ukrainian and American intelligence services and the increased importance of intelligence coming from France and…

Did Robert De Niro say he had to leave New York City now that Mamdani is officially the mayor as some viral posts are saying? No, that's not true: The actor did not make the comments about having "no choice" and Mamdani wanting to take half of his savings because he was wealthy. The story and quote originated on a…

Did researchers associated with Harvard University create a 3D model of Mansa Musa, the 14th-century ruler of the Mali Empire? No, that's not true: This image does not show a forensic and digital reconstruction of Mansa Musa. It is a rendering of Kanye West. This joke is a variation of an online theme that has circulated for years, presenting the…

Did the phrase "One of ours all of yours" originate in Nazi Germany after all the residents in a Czech village were killed in retribution for the killing of an SS officer? No, that's not true: The phrase, which was displayed on a lectern at a DHS press conference, is not present in historical records of Nazi slogans, nor is…

Did Secret Service Agent Larry Cockell document that Bill Clinton stopped to speak with a homeless Desert Storm veteran named Marcus Williams outside the Kennedy Center in 1997? No, that's not true: This sentimental story is fictional clickbait. The story's many details make it sound believable but they do not check out. There is no record of this 1997 interaction…

Did a group of "radical libertarian NRA members" face off with ICE agents and their vehicles in Oregon, daring them to move an inch toward them? No, that's not true: A viral message making that claim in the wake of the Minneapolis shooting of a woman by an ICE agent originated on a satirical X.com account. There were no actual…

Does a viral post accurately summarize Zohran Mamdani's words from a podcast recorded more than five years before he was sworn in as New York City mayor? No, that's not true: The quote was shortened, and it changed its meaning. A longer, more elaborate fragment of his speech shows that he suggested that it shouldn't be the police, but specially…