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Did a man named Damien Slash get fired from a job at Microsoft over comments he made on Bluesky about the killing of Charlie Kirk as he explained in a viral video? No, that's not true: The man with the nose ring who said he worked for six years building the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion department is actually a comedian.…

Did singers Dolly Parton, Adam Lambert, Elton John, Barry Gibb, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Vince Gill, sports figures Sam Pittman, Cade Klubnik, or Marc Marquez honor Charlie Kirk by calling for a moment of silence or by attending his funeral? No, that's not true: Social posts and articles claiming that these celebrities reacted to the killing of Kirk on September…

Did Paul McCartney hold one minute of silence for Charlie Kirk and the victims of 9/11 during a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York? No, that's not true: The story was made up by a Facebook page and website managed by someone in Vietnam. No such concert was listed on the website of the venue and the story…

Does an authentic photo show Tyler Robinson wearing a Trump T-shirt? No, that's not true: The photo of Robinson is real, but it has been digitally manipulated. The shirt he was wearing in the original photo was plain with no printing and burgundy, not red. The edited photo appeared in a post (archived here) on X by @UchePOkoye on Sep.…

Is Tyler Robinson, the suspect in custody for the shooting of Charlie Kirk, a Republican? No, that's not true: Voter registration records in Utah show he chose to vote neither as a Democrat nor as a Republican. He registered as "Unaffiliated." The claim appeared in a September 12, 2025 Facebook post (archived here) on the whitesarahh account under the title:…

Did a viral story about Dale Earnhardt Jr. making a fierce statement against the Charlie Kirk shooter come from an actual news source? No, that's not true: The story appeared on a foreign-run clickbait site and Facebook page and showed signs of having been generated using AI. The supposedly viral hashtag #AbsolutelyReady mentioned in the story was not used on…

Does a viral clip show Tyler Robinson speaking in front of an audience at an event organized by the Democratic Socialists of America? No, that's not true: The original caption said it was a different person who doesn't even look like the suspect in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk. A face comparison tool confirmed that those are two different…

Did Qatar "demand" returning the jet it gave to the Trump administration in the late spring of 2025? No, that's not true: As of September 12, 2025, Lead Stories found no credible reports corroborating the claim. The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs made no such public demands. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on September…

Does a photo spread virally on social media show Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the assassination of Charlie Kirk? No, that's not true: This is a photo of Jack Bellows, a cochair of the Salt Lake Democratic Socialists. During the manhunt for the person who shot Charlie Kirk, someone suggested Bellows might be the person of interest who appeared in…

Is there a video of Charlie Kirk's father collapsing in grief at a memorial set up outside the Turning Point USA headquarters? No, that's not true: The promise of a video of Kirk's Father collapsing is a clickbait ploy. There is no video at the link provided in the Facebook post from a page operating from Vietnam. The photo included…

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…

Was "The Shooting Of Charlie Kirk" book published by "Anastasia J. Casey" the day before Kirk was shot and killed in Utah? No, that's not true: An Amazon spokesperson told Lead Stories the title was published in the late afternoon on September 10, 2025, and the date of September 9, 2025, that appeared on the website for the book was…

Did Elon Musk step in and pledge to pay all living and educational expenses for the children of Charlie Kirk? No, that's not true: That story originated on a website and Facebook page run by someone in Vietnam and it contained several hallmarks of having been generated with AI. No actual news reports made any mention of such a pledge…

Was a Secret Service agent standing with Donald Trump after he was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, also standing close to Charlie Kirk when he was fatally shot in Orem, Utah, on September 10, 2025? No, that's not true: The male Secret Service agent holding Trump's left arm as Trump raised his right fist in the air…

Was the FBI the source for crisp, clear video a social media post distributed, saying it showed a person sought by the FBI in its investigation of the killing of political activist Charlie Kirk? No, that's not true: The real images released by the FBI were grainy pictures from security camera footage. The person who posted the high-resolution video has…

Did Hyundai make an announcement that it was canceling its $4 billion EV battery plant in Georgia after the raid where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained 475 workers on September 4, 2025? No, that's not true: There is no impact to Hyundai's U.S. vehicle manufacturing operations following the ICE raid a company spokesperson told Lead Stories. Hyundai's president and…

Did Jalen Hurts, Travis Kelce, Nick Bosa, Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, Malik Nabers, Jordan Love, and other NFL stars each donate $300,000 to Charlie Kirk's family? No, that's not true: Facebook posts claiming that these American football players reacted to the killing of Kirk on September 10, 2025, with big donations and statements of support are generated by AI tools.…

Does a photo circulating on social media show the rooftop sniper who shot Charlie Kirk? No, that's not true: The photo in question, showing an overcast sky and a sniper wearing a ski mask and parka, is not associated with the shooting that took place on a sunny day on the campus of Utah Valley University. This image existed for…

Does a video filmed at Utah Valley University in the aftermath of the shooting of Charlie Kirk show a young man cheering his death? No, that's not true: While it's not possible to say what a person in a video was thinking, the audio of the original video records that the man and several other people were chanting "USA". Additional…

Does a viral selfie of a light-haired person in a dark skirt, taken with a pink cellphone, portray the owner of the @NajraGalvz account on X, which posted one day before the event that "something big" would happen during the Utah Valley University event at which Charlie Kirk was killed? No, that's not true: The photo was misattributed. The @NajraGalvz…