Athletes

Do these photos document masonic handshakes -- called "grips" -- being made by Freemasons? No, that's not true: Scholars and the grand secretary of the Grand Lodge of New York say these are not masonic grips and neither former President George W. Bush nor former President Barack Obama are Freemasons. The post implies the people in the photographs are Masons…

Are "all the soccer players getting heart attacks"? And can the recent cluster of cardiac events suffered by athletes be attributed to any one cause? No, that's not true: Several of the recent incidents are clearly unrelated to the COVID-19 vaccine, and others do not point to the vaccine as a cause, but this has not prevented anti-vaccine activists from…

Are COVID-19 vaccines full of exclusive nanotechnology to create a "slave species"? No, that's not true: Anti-vaccination group La Quinta Columna (The Fifth Column) provides no proof for its claims that COVID vaccines contain nanotechnology. Patents and ingredient lists for the vaccines do not show any of the "NanoRouters ... Nano-Antennas and Plasmonic Antennas" alleged to be in them. The…

Does the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination do more harm than good? No, that's not true: The video by the Canadian Covid Care Alliance (CCCA) in the Rumble post saying so recycles many previously debunked claims about the COVID vaccine. The Pfizer shot (BNT162b2) received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 23, 2021, for people 16 and…

Does a list of athletes from around the world who have died or collapsed help parents of athletic children to weigh the risks and benefits of their child receiving the COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: While this list does enumerate many incidents, in only a few does it mention if the person was even vaccinated, and it does not…

Are COVID-19 vaccines full of razorlike graphene nanoparticles that are killing athletes and others? No, that's not true: No ingredient lists for the vaccines include graphene and no credible independent lab has produced evidence graphene particles are in the vaccines. The claim arises from a video (archived here) of German chemist Andreas Noack, posted to BitChute November 28, 2021, titled…

Are symptoms of the omicron variant being used to cover up effects of COVID-19 vaccines? No, there is no evidence that there is a cover-up of COVID vaccine adverse effects via symptoms of the new omicron variant. An article making that claim gives no scientific, medical or reputably published proof. It also repeats a false claim that 183 professional athletes…

Did 108 FIFA-registered players and coaches die in six months of 2021, as stated in a viral tweet? No, this claim is unsubstantiated. The number cited in the post, 108, seems to have originated from a source making a different claim that was not specific to FIFA, nor even the sport of soccer, nor a six month time frame. A…

Is humanity being held hostage by a new world order pushing COVID-19 vaccines? No, that's not true: The video in this Facebook post recycles previously debunked claims about COVID and plays into the rhetoric of an elaborate QAnon story of a cabal of blood-drinking elites working for global dominion. The claims appear in a post (archived here) on November 16,…

Did California ban travel to Florida? No, that's not entirely true: While California did ban state-sponsored travel to Florida due to the latter state's policies against LGBTQ individuals, that ban does not extend to private travel. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on August 3, 2021. It featured a graphic that read: California bans travel to…