Super Bowl

Did the Trump administration state that Billie Eilish, the acclaimed songwriter, is "destroying our country and everything we care about" in leaked documents? No, that is not true. Eilish was the one who said that Trump was ruining the nation and America's values during August's Democratic National Convention -- not the other way around. The story started with The Washington…

Does a photo of a man kissing a child show Chuck Schumer or a pedophile? No, that's not true: The man in the photo is the child's father, he is not Chuck Schumer and he is not a pedophile. This photograph was circulated online for more than a year with various defamatory captions and alleged locations before someone decided to…

Are hydroxychloroquine, zinc and Zithromax a cure for COVID-19? No, that's not true: As Lead Stories reported previously, global health experts continue to say that there are no drugs that have been shown to prevent or cure the infection. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here). The post included a video and the following text: BREAKING American Doctors…

Was JFK Jr. spotted at the Fourth of July celebration at Mount Rushmore on July 3, 2020? No, that's not true: John F. Kennedy Jr. died in plane crash in 1999, which makes it a certainty that the son of the 35th president of the United States did not attend the Mount Rushmore speech of the 45th, President Donald Trump.…

Did Mel Gibson say that Hollywood is controlled by "parasites" who are involved in child sacrifice and pedophilia? No, there is nothing to substantiate the old claim that Gibson said it while on a promotional tour in 2017. The actor's spokesman told Lead Stories, "I can assure you that he never said such a thing ... he never stated that…

Was Austin's Stevie Ray Vaughan statue vandalized in 2020? Yes, that's true, but a viral image of paint on the rear side of the Vaughan memorial is from a 2018 incident blamed on a football fan after his team won the SuperBowl. A second photo showing "FTP" painted on the music icon's chest was apparently the result of a May…

Was U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Wuhan, China, six days after the impeachment proceedings against President Trump ended? No, that is not true. Not even close, according to government records.. She was in California six days after the House impeachment -- and in Kansas City in plain view, six days after the Senate voted February 5, 2020, to acquit…

Did the New York Jets sign free agent Colin Kaepernick to a one-year, $9 million contract? No, that is not true: Kaepernick was not signed to a new deal with the NFL's Jets. A Tweet was sent from an account with a photo that looked like ESPN's SportsCenter logo -- but with the name "SuperToughScene" -- claiming Kaepernick signed with…

Anne Brown, a staff writer and fact-checker for Lead Stories, is the former Senior Director of Special Events at CNN. Over the course of her 30-plus year career in television news based at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, she covered major events both domestic and international, winning Emmy and Peabody awards along the way. Brown led on-location production and logistics…

Did scientists claim the Wuhan coronavirus is an HIV-1 engineered hybrid "superweapon"? No, that's not true: The scientific research cited in a video making the claim has not been peer-reviewed, and the authors have withdrawn the paper, saying they intend to revise their interpretation of the results. The claim originated from a post (archived here) published by STFN Reloaded on…