Police Skit

Did the owner of an eatery prevent a woman from entering the business because her "Trump 2024" shirt was "a little issue for our facility"? No, that's not true: The owner of the TikTok account that first posted the video that depicted this supposed encounter told Lead Stories that "it was a fake video!" and "a silly TikTok." The account…

Did a photo of the attempted assassin of Donald Trump surface, showing that Thomas Matthew Crooks was transgender? No, that's not true: The person in the photo on social media is not Crooks. The photo appeared first on 4chan, posted by an anonymous user who replied to someone's questioning its truth that "spreading rumors is fun." A close-up photo of…

Did Secret Service personnel grin widely, showing their teeth, while escorting former President Trump to safety after the assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024, as a social media post claims? No, that's not true: A tool created to detect ai-generated images found substantial evidence the image had been remade with generative ai systems.…

Does a video posted on social media show a genuine British police officer questioning a driver, who is waiting for a friend at a train station, to exclude him as a suspect in a crime "that may or may not be currently in progress"? No, that's not true: This is a skit staged for social media. The man playing the…

Did a doctor take over eight minutes to gingerly remove a "parasite" from a woman's scalp? No, that's not true: This video is the creation of sword swallower and content creator Juliette Electrique, who works with Las Vegas entertainment promoter and viral social media content entrepreneur Rick Lax Productions. Electrique's Facebook page is marked as Satire/Parody. In the past the…

Did several Drug Enforcement Administration agents accept the assistance of two men they pulled over who were in a purportedly stolen vehicle to then go into the woods and bust an active drug-cooking operation? No, that's not true: This video depicts a fictional scenario, one of a series made by video creator PhilTheThrill. The video was published on Facebook by…

Did a police officer, believing there was a domestic incident, knock for 10 minutes on the door of a house where no one lives until the homeowner arrives and tells her the house was empty? No, that's not true: This video is a scripted skit. There are several indications that this security camera-style footage does not show a real police…

Wanted for Defamation On November 5, 2021, a website named Conservative Beaver published a false story about the CEO of Pfizer being arrested for fraud. It wasn't the first false story published by the website and it wouldn't be the last: Only a few days later the site falsely claimed Myriam Bourla (the wife of Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla) died…

Does a widely shared video show a real instance of a woman in a wheelchair pretending to have lost her leg to collect money and then being confronted about her fakery? No, that's not true: The video shows several signs of being staged. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) from August 27, 2021. It featured a video…

Did a police officer help a homeless man who was trying to take a shower in a car wash? No, that's not true: This three-minute video drama was originally posted by Blake K, a video producer who makes short skits for social media. This video was originally posted with the disclaimer: "The events that take place in this particular short-film…