Entertainment

Did Japan's soccer team trash a dressing room at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar after losing its November 27, 2022, match to Costa Rica? No, that's not true: These photos are still frames from a video filmed in a dressing room in Stadio Renzo Barbera in Palermo, Italy, a day after the Italian team lost a match to North…

Did CNN publish an article or a news report stating that "Elon Musk could threaten free speech on Twitter by literally allowing people to speak freely"? No, that's not true: As of November 28, 2022, the CNN website had not published such a story, which originated from a satirical website overtly presenting itself as a "source of fake news." The…

Does an image widely circulated on social media accurately depict an Anchorage Daily News article about a Virginia man who was arrested for having created "exact replicas of classified US military bases" in the Minecraft video game? No, that's not true: This is a digitally altered meme that was initially posted as a joke in an online social forum. The…

Did Apple delete all its tweets? No, that's not true: While Apple's official Twitter account @Apple is devoid of tweets, it's not because they were deleted. The tech giant doesn't typically tweet, but it does maintain other official Twitter accounts for its brands, including @AppleMusic, @AppleTV and @AppStore, that are active. Apple does change its profile pictures occasionally to promote…

Did Pope Francis write an inspirational quote that begins, "Rivers do not drink their own water"? No, that's not true: A Vatican spokeswoman told Lead Stories the quote was not authentic. The same quote is attributed to other spiritual leaders, and scholars say the quote probably has roots in an old Sanskrit proverb. The claim appeared in an Instagram post…

Does the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants' driver's license show an address on one of the late Jeffrey Epstein's private islands in a cartoon on the Nickelodeon channel? No, that's not true: A post making the claim never shows or gives a purported address for the cartoon character. And a spokesperson for Nickelodeon tells Lead Stories, "This claim is incorrect." The…

Is Seattle billionaire Bill Gates now chairman of the Maricopa County, Arizona Board of Supervisors? No, that's not true: A representative for Maricopa County told Lead Stories that a different Bill Gates serves Maricopa County. Gates the billionaire and villain of many conspiracy theories, is a longtime resident of Seattle, where the company he co-founded, Microsoft, is headquartered. The claim…

Did The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) host a contemporary dance performance that some commenters have called "demonic" at one of its conferences? No, that's not true: The performance took place in 2017 at Ghent University, Belgium and had nothing to do with any collective-security meeting. The claim appeared in a November 11, 2022 Instagram post on the tartarian_world account.…

Did The Independent, an online British daily newspaper, publish an article by reporter Graeme Massie with the headline, "Elon Musk's father paid college $125,000 to ignore animal abuse claims"? No, that's not true: The Independent never published an article that said this. The screenshots posted on social media that make this claim are fabricated. A tweet with two fake screenshots…

Did gunfire from a sniper in Houston hit and kill Takeoff, a member of the rap group Migos? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, officials have presented no evidence that suggests that a sniper fired at Takeoff, the stage name of 28-year-old rapper Kirshnik Khari Ball. The claim that a sniper killed Takeoff appeared in a post…

Were the Nazis and the Rockefellers responsible for changing the universal music standard for tuning A from 432 Hz to 440 Hz in 1953? No, that's not true: There are several falsehoods wrapped in this conspiracy about the establishment of this tuning standard, starting with the assertion that 432 Hz was the universal standard before a 440 Hz standard was…

Does a video accurately describe the conflict between two renowned actors at the 2022 Academy Awards as a fake, a re-enactment of an old movie scene? No, that's not true: The video in this post was published online two months after Will Smith hit Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards. The video appeared in an Instagram post on October…

Did Twitter suspend the account belonging to Elon Musk, the billionaire who launched a buyout bid for the social media giant? No, that's not true: The account that Twitter suspended uses a deceptive spelling of Musk's name. Twitter did not suspend the profile belonging to the real Elon Musk. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on October 26, 2022.…

Does the potassium in a banana react with the aluminum of a license plate so that somehow traffic cameras cannot record the numbers on the plate, but only see a glare? No, that's not true: The effect shown is not the result of a chemical reaction -- this video is a joke aimed at "someone who deserves traffic tickets" that…

Did a gay porn actor named Brandon Cummings get arrested after fighting off 35 neo-Nazis? No, that's not true: This story originated on a satirical website. A screenshot of the headline and what looks like a mug shot was making the rounds on social media in October 2022 with no clear label that this was not a real story. Daily…

Does a "documentary" called "HOW EARTH BECAME A BALL" prove that the Earth is flat? No, that's not true: Although it's presented as a documentary, "HOW EARTH BECAME A BALL" is an unauthorized repackaging of a 1990 Canadian satirical movie, "In Search of the Edge." It's a mockumentary about flat Earth (FE) theory. John Hoskyns-Abrahall with Bullfrog Films, the distributor…

Did Sophia Stewart win a $2.5 billion lawsuit against Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox and other Hollywood filmmakers for stealing ideas from her manuscripts to make "The Terminator" and "The Matrix" movies? No, that's not true: Stewart filed a lawsuit against these defendants, claiming they stole her ideas for the blockbuster movie franchises, but a California judge dismissed her case…

Does a video that shows a stage-lighting support hitting an astronaut as he descends onto what appears to be the moon's surface prove that Apollo 11's July 20, 1969, moon landing was fake? No, that's not true: This video was produced as a tribute to moon-landing conspiracy theories. The video's creators also made a website that explains their motivation: "We…

Does a video show President Joe Biden singing the popular children's song "Baby Shark" during a news conference? No, that's not true: The video is a deepfake created for entertainment purposes and apparently first posted by a social media creator whose bio explains they regularly post video content that has been artificially created. The claim appeared in an October 17,…

Is an ad real that shows a prosthetic sex toy that is designed for trans women to "experience and celebrate the miracle of childbirth"? No, the website selling the sex toy does not ever mention it could be used so a "trans woman can experience and celebrate the miracle of childbirth." The product page where it is for sale on…