Hollywood

Did President Donald Trump's adviser Alina Habba discover a hidden "fake Oval Office" used by former President Joe Biden? No, that's not true: There is nothing secret or hidden about the constructed Oval Office set. It is the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower building and has been used by multiple presidents, including Trump. Habba implied she discovered the "fake…

Did Gene Hackman vow to "corroborate everything in the Epstein client list" in an X.com post a year before his death? No, that's not true: The user name seen in the purported February 2024 tweet does not exist and there is no indication online the 95-year-old actor was active on the social media platform in recent years. While no "client…

Hollywood star Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead in their New Mexico home on February 26, 2025, and people are alleging that it was an "double suicide." Here is what we know: Oscar-winner Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog were all found in different locations in their home and had apparently been dead for some time.…

Did Carrie Underwood win a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit against "The View" or did she even sue them? No, that's not true: The story alleging there was a lawsuit involving comments on "The View" about Underwood's performance at President Trump's inauguration was put out by a number of clickbait channels on YouTube, but it was not backed up by any sources…

Did the actor and film director Ron Howard write an essay on why "I'm a liberal," enumerating 16 key beliefs? No, that's not true: The original 2018 essay, written in the form of an open letter, was published by author Lori Gallagher Witt. Her Facebook post went viral and has since been subjected to several unauthorized revisions and misattributions. In…

Did Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum address President Donald Trump in a speech about "7 billion consumers ready to replace" their American products and vacations with non-American ones? No, that's not true: Lead Stories could not find any evidence that Sheinbaum ever said that to Trump, let alone publicly. Neither the website of the Mexican government nor Google News, among other…

Did President Donald Trump call actress Selena Gomez "the third amigo" in a Truth Social post? No, that's not true: There was no such post on the social media platform Truth Social. A search of Google News brought up no news reports confirming the post ever existed and in fact showed several articles that explained it was fake. The claim…

Are there 45 electric firetrucks in Los Angeles that had to go back to the fire department for 10 hours a day to recharge while the January 2025 wildfires burned? No, that's not true: According to a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson the LAFD "has only one electric fire engine and no electric fire trucks" and that one is equipped…

Does a video show real wildfire scenes of firefighters in rugged terrain, fire raging and a suburban neighborhood in California? No, that's not true: This video on Facebook is AI generated. Lead Stories tracked the source of a clip in this video back to a TikTok creator who has their account marked, "AI Lover." They have published 69 AI generated…

Were the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires intentionally set to implement "smart city" technology across Los Angeles? No, that's not true: While the cause of the wildfires had not been determined at the time of writing, the "smart city" effort to improve technology for municipalities does not include intentionally destroying them first. Los Angeles unveiled its plan to eventually add…