2020 Black Lives Matter Protests

Was a Brooklyn, New York, subway attack on a white woman by a black man related to current Black Lives Matter protests? No, it was not. The attack took place on Oct. 23, 2019, well before the wave of BLM protests began following the death of George Floyd. Moreover, Transit Authority police identified the attacker as a frequent offender caught…

Is Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer the niece of billionaire philanthropist George Soros? No, she is not. Soros, the descendant of Hungarian Jews, has two nephews by his only brother, Paul, but no nieces. Whitmer's family tree bends toward England and Bavaria, not Hungary, going many generations back. The false claim appeared in a post published on Facebook on June 1,…

Was a man serious when he told a journalist that George Soros invited him to lunch, paid him by personal check to protest, and made him rich? No, that's not true: A video of the "paid protester" is a 3-year-old spoof, according to the man who conducted the faux interview and posted the original two-minute video. Furthermore, the man featured…

Did protesters tag "Honest Abe" at the Lincoln Memorial with "Black Lives Matter" graffiti? No, that's not true: The image showing a chunk of Lincoln's head missing and the rest of him covered with words and names drawn in blue, red, black, yellow and green paint was digitally created. The giant statute of Lincoln sitting was untouched and well-protected by…

Have philanthropist Bill Gates, along with Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention been silent amid the widespread protests sparked by George Floyd's death? And does this supposed silence "prove" that fears and lockdowns over the novel coronavirus were part of a "scam"? No, neither is true. All of these people and institutions…

Did Black Lives Matter protesters damage three war memorial sites -- in Kentucky, New York and California? No, that's not true: Photos shared to support the claim are years old and unrelated to the 2020 protests in the wake of George Floyd's death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. The claims appeared in various social media posts in…

Was a black man who was arrested by police quickly released because the cops learned he was an FBI agent? No, that's not true. The now-viral video of a man being put in handcuffs by Rochester, Minnesota, police officers is a year old, and the arrested man is not an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to Rochester…