Did Oprah Winfrey try to buy Sen. John Fetterman's vote on the "Big Beautiful Bill" for $20 million? No, that's not true: The story originated on a Facebook page known for its satirical content. The image supporting the claim is stamped with a warning label that says: "Satire. EVERYTHING on this page is FICTION." The claim appeared in a post…
Oh, joy! It is the most wonderful day of the year (if you are a fact checker)... April Fool's Day is upon us, that day when every outlet, brand, influencer and Internet jokester under the sun tries to come up with something original to fool their audience with. Listing every effort at humor, satire, parody etc. on such a day…
Did country singer Jason Aldean walk off the set of Stephen Colbert's TV show over a joke about Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The story originated on a Facebook page known for its satirical content. The image supporting the claim is stamped with a warning label that says: "Satire. Nothing on this page is real." The claim appeared in…
Did former British Prime Minister Liz Truss blame "underground transgender mafia" for a KitKat chocolate heist? No, that's not true: The made-up quote originated from a satire account that had a history of attributing false statements about "underground transgender mafia" to Truss. As of this writing, no credible media outlet had reported the former prime minister making such a remark.…
Did President Donald Trump react with an angry Truth Social post after "only 17 people" turned out for a "Pro Kings" rally in Lexington, Kentucky? No, that's not true: The story originated on the satirical Substack page of comedy writer Andy Borowitz. Trump's Truth Social account showed no posts about such an event, despite what some social media posts claimed…
Does a viral screenshot deliver a real extract from Michael Wolff's book about U.S. President Donald Trump demanding a "gorilla channel" in the White House? No, that's not true: It's an old joke that first emerged in January 2018 as a response to the revelations in Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury.' Lead Stories confirmed that the book contains no mention…
Did President Donald Trump post a message on his Truth Social account saying that Queen Elizabeth should pardon former prince Andrew after his arrest? No, that's not true: The original message was posted by an account clearly marked as satire as the screenshot shows. "Luke Skywalker" actor Mark Hamill shared the fake post, apparently missing the satire label, to mock…
Is the story of a man with "eleven properties in the metaverse" (including a "beachfront villa in Horizon Worlds") whose net worth peaked at $1.2 million real? No, that's not true: It appeared on the X account of content creator and security researcher Peter Girnus. His account features several other satirical tall tales about being a leader or executive of…
Did U.S. President Donald Trump write a post about winning "the Iran thing" in a "Bigly" way on March 19, 2026? No, that's not true: The post did not originate from Trump's account. The image of the entry, as it first appeared on social media, carried a satire label. The claim originated from a post (archived here) published on X…
Is a new Disneyland theme park valued at "$100 billion" coming to Ohio as some social media posts claim? No, that's not true: The news originated on Mouse Trap News, a satirical publication specializing in Disney-related stories. The site described the story about a new park in Cincinnati as "totally made-up" in the footer of the article. The story came…
Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
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