Woke

Does a viral post tell a true story of Hank Wilcox, a 71-year-old farmer and the father of a deceased service member, helping migrants with free water in "Henry County,"? No, that's not true: News reports about the farmer cited in viral posts about the story were nowhere to be found. The post contained an image that was likely generated…

Did President Trump sign into law an income tax exemption for families making less than $120,000? No, that's not true: No such exemption has passed the U.S. House and Senate. There is no such exemption on the official list of laws signed by Trump. The claim appeared in a September 4, 2025 TikTok video (archived here) published by the AppalachianQueen5…

Did George Strait say Garth Brooks had been "begging country stars to help him get back into the world he tossed in the trash for wokeness"? No, that's not true: That quote originated on a satirical Facebook page. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The image appeared in a reel…

Does a viral social media chart correctly represent the portion of the transgender population that had committed a mass shooting or the share of mass shootings according to gender identification between 2015 and 2025? No, that's not true: The charts supply no source for those numbers. Organizations that professionally track mass shootings using police records and public information had not,…

Was a George Floyd statue located at the National Mall or the "Smithsonian Institute" in Washington, D.C., dismantled and "put in storage"? No, that's not true: The rumor that resurfaced on the internet in August 2025 came from the self-described "network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery". The image accompanying the claim showed a George Floyd statue in Newark, New Jersey.…

Was American Derek Huffman killed in a drone strike while fighting for the Russian military in Ukraine in July 2025? A YouTube account used by his wife claimed in a comment that Huffman is alive and well. Another American acquaintance of Huffman also told Lead Stories that Huffman is alive, but definitive proof was not immediately available. Here's what we…

Did Jerome Powell write a July 22, 2025, letter informing President Donald Trump of his resignation as Chairman of the Federal Reserve? No, that's not true: A widely-shared screenshot of such a letter was in fact a fake, most likely produced using AI. Powell had not resigned as of July 23. The fake letter appeared in a July 22, 2025,…

Did Dunkin' Donuts' CEO announce in June 2025 that a woke ad campaign cost the company $1 billion, forcing it to backtrack? No, that's not true: The story is fiction and copies the idea, but not the words, of a September 2024 spoof produced by a Facebook page specializing in satirical news stories. No evidence-based news organization has published or…

Did NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace call for the white flag, which signals the final lap of a race, to be banned, in June 2025? No, that's not true: The rumor originated on a Facebook page that publishes sports-related "sports parodies" and "satire". Wallace, who is Black, previously called for NASCAR to ban displays of the Confederate flag at races, which…

Did Jelly Roll announce that he would not celebrate Pride Month and that "WOKE Doesn't Deserve to Be Celebrated"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the singer, rapper, and songwriter known as Jelly Roll -- real name Jason DeFord -- made such a statement. His official website and social media accounts do not include the statement. The…