Slavery

Did Colonel Richard Whitmore give his wheelchair-bound daughter Eleanor to Josiah Freeman, a 7-foot-tall enslaved man, after she was deemed unmarriageable? No, that's not true: This story is not based on true historical events, but is a fictional romance, illustrated with AI-generated images and details that may seem like real documentation. The earliest mention of a story involving people by…

Did Vice President JD Vance write on his official X account that everyday Oval Office banter is worse than the leaked and criticized Young Republicans' Telegram jokes about Hitler, slavery, gas chambers and rape? No, that's not true: A viral image of the post attributed to Vance was not an authentic screenshot. It originated from a community on Reddit that…

Does a transcript of what social media posts describe as an "alleged leaked conversation" between Senator Mitch McConnell and former Congressman Kevin McCarthy authentically capture the contents of a private exchange between them? No, there is no proof for that: Neither in 2022, when the conversation supposedly took place, nor in 2025 did credible media outlets verify its authenticity. No…

Did actor Robert De Niro call White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt "KKKatherine" and did she respond that her family "fought to end slavery" while his "snuck into the country illegally in the 1920s"? No, that's not true: A meme describing that supposed exchange originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. The owner of the page is known…

Did basketball player LeBron James call Karoline Leavitt "KKK Barbie" in an interview and did she respond that her family "fought to end slavery" while his "came from Jamaica"? No, that's not true: A meme making that claim originated on a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and…

Did a man named "Arnold Bushman" light himself on fire to protest "Disney making the little mermaid black"? No, that's not true: A tweet from October 2024 with that claim was screenshotted and went viral again in early 2025. However the image in the post showed a man named Aaron Bushnell who immolated himself in February 2024 to protest the…

Is former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell accurately credited with a "lazy immigrants" quote often shared on social media? No, that's not true: The quote was first published on social media in 2019 by a user on X who acknowledged having written it. There is no record of the former general publicly sharing this sentiment. The Foreign Service Institute…

Did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy officially declare war on Russia's allies, Iran and North Korea? No, that's not true: Despite what some social media posts are saying, as of this writing neither Ukrainian government sites, the Iranian Embassy in Ukraine nor news media have mentioned any such declaration of war. In public speeches Zelenskyy has described Iran and North Korea's…

Did Donald Trump announce in a Time magazine interview that "he'd force every pregnant woman to submit to constant government monitoring" to ensure they don't have an abortion? No, that's not true: The former president outlined many other plans for the next term if he is re-elected, but this specific proposition was not one he explicitly argued for in the…

Does a video show Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talking about his plan to "liberate" or "recolonize" Black people of Africa? No, that's not true: The clip cut off a sentence from his 2016 African Summit speech where he made it clear he was quoting a statement by a historical figure. On that occasion, Netanyahu said nothing about "recolonization." The…