Society

Did the FBI discover a secret tunnel under Rob Reiner's Brentwood mansion? No, that's not true: There is no credible information to support this claim. The day after Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were murdered, clickbait videos began to surface on YouTube claiming the FBI found a tunnel under their home. Some of these videos had titles identical to…

Does the new Trump-Kennedy sign at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts have gold appliques like President Donald Trump added to the walls of the Oval Office? No, that's not true: Though Trump's name was added, there were no news reports that gold ornaments were added to the facade of the Kennedy Center. Photos taken by Lead Stories on…

Were President Donald Trump, former President Barack Obama or TV host Jimmy Kimmel silenced after calling Harvard grads "overrated and dumb" when opponents revealed their SAT scores? No, that's not true: There is no public record of Trump, Obama or Kimmel saying it. There is also no record of anyone confronting those men with their SAT scores. Facebook pages administered…

Did Austria reveal the stage design for Eurovision 2026 is a swastika? No, that's not true: The image is fake and was posted by a satire account which says they have been "Spreading misinformation on the internet since 1827". On Dec. 16, 2025 eurovision.com announced German stage designer Florian Wieder has envisioned a stage in the shape of a curved…

Does a viral clip show real "transgender Providence Police Department spokesperson Lyle Culpepper" demanding that the public stop saying "the Brown shooter"? No, that's not true: The person in the video is comedian L.E. Staiman. In interviews, Staiman has said that he believes his videos are so absurd that people can easily understand they are parody and satire. The claim…

Does a viral image really show the "leaked Facebook profile" of the "Bondi Beach shooter" and does it reveal he is an Israeli named "David Cohen"? No, that's not true: The image circulating on social media shows several signs of digital tampering and possible use of AI. Authorities have named "Naveed Akram" and "Sajid Akram" as the shooters in the…

Did Rachel Maddow, tennis champion Coco Gauff and former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, plus dozens of other prominent Americans, post identical brave notes from a hospital bed, saying "I still have a long road ahead. But I believe in recovery -- through love, through support, and through everyone's thoughts and prayers."? No, that's not true: The stories, with identical…

Is Kid Rock donating the proceeds of his next five shows to Turning Point USA in Charlie Kirk's honor? No, that's not true: The story originated on a satirical Facebook page that clearly labels its content as fake. The page's owner is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing fabricated posts. As of Dec. 18, 2025, Kid Rock has…

Does the 1986 Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, "authored" by U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, make it legal to "blow drug boats out of the water"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories reviewed the text of the law, and it says nothing about an unrestricted use of lethal force. An expert in maritime law confirmed to Lead Stories that the Act…

Did an elderly man kill two thieves inside his home and is he now being sued by their families for $1 million in damages? No, that's not true: This story is made up, designed to get social media engagement by causing outrage. There is no real incident matching the provided details. The video is illustrated with clips drawn from a…

Does a viral picture of what looks like an Israeli passport confirm that Volodymyr Zelenskyy became an Israeli citizen before he became president of Ukraine? No, that's not true: The image got the spelling of his last name wrong. The machine-readable text on the bottom of the first page didn't fit the internationally standardized form, either. The claim appeared in…

Is a video of a conversation between the Venezuelan ship Guaiquerí, commanded by Capt. Yonaiker Bermúdez, and the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Jason Durham legitimate? No, that's not true: The creator of the video said on social media that it was made as a parody, adding that it had "gone around the world as if it were real." The creator…

Does a video titled "Operation Metro Freeze" show real footage of a deportation flight in Minnesota? No, that's not true: AI made that clip. Early versions of it showed a watermark pointing to a specific generative AI tool and it's unlikely a military transport plane would have a tail number like the one in the video. The claim appeared in…

Did Arnold Schwarzenegger offer to "cover all funeral expenses for Rob Reiner and his wife"? No, that's not true: The original TikTok video was labeled AI-generated by the content creator. There has not been any reporting that Schwarzenegger made such an offer. He did post a brief tribute to his friend on X. The fake clip with a cloned voice…

Did retired Charleston detective Vincent Hayes solve a cold case by recognizing missing woman Aaliyah Porter's face in a wax figure at a gala? No, that's not true: This story is just another fabricated tale from a YouTube channel that has been riffing on a mystery theme where dead bodies are hidden in plain sight as medical models, dolls, mannequins…

Did Rob Reiner say he wished the would-be Donald Trump assassin "hadn't missed"? No, that's not true: A source close to the family told Lead Stories the claim is "nonsense." Lead Stories found no evidence that Reiner ever said he wished the gunman had killed Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024. Social media posts claiming that "liberals are all butt…

Did the company behind the Roblox video game announce it is "shutting down on January 1st"? No, that's not true: A viral screenshot of such a message appeared on an account labeled "parody" on X. It did not come from the official company website and there were no news articles about any such shutdown. The image and claim appeared in…

Did Zohran Mamdani, Melania Trump, Sen. John Kennedy or other prominent Americans go live with a 3 a.m. emergency monologue claiming they were under threat for secrets they were about to expose about President Donald Trump or former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden? No, that's not true: Nearly identical stories mentioning those and other names were published by a…

Did singer Charli XCX write an article titled "The Death of Cool" about God and gender roles? No, that's not true: The passage attributed to Charli XCX on social media is taken from an essay by a University of Oklahoma student about God and gender roles. The quote is taken directly from the student's assignment and does not appear in…

Did a "Josephine Boudreaux, the Black Widow of Louisiana", seduce and kill 11 Klan members in 1872? No, that's not true: This story is made up and only recently surfaced on social media. There is no historical record of this woman, and the story lacks verifying details such as names and places. There are many images purporting to show Boudreaux,…