Did McDonald's in Japan run an ad campaign that featured a shirtless Ronald McDonald in red briefs overflowing with french fries? No, that's not true: In 2019, this french fry ad was promoting a much smaller Japanese restaurant chain called Yotteba. The artwork at the center of the campaign, "Sexy Ronald," was created in 2011 by a Brooklyn artist who…

Did a traffic reporter "melt down" on live TV, first correcting the anchors' pronunciation of his name and then expressing annoyance to the news anchors about how live roadside traffic reporting is obsolete? No, that's not true: This is a comedy skit by John Crist. The video opens with a short clip from a real channel 2 Houston newscast. The…

Was a 4-year-old child kidnapped in an Omaha Sam's Club, only to be found assaulted in the store's bathroom stall? No, that's not true: There is no evidence the incident took place and police in Omaha have flagged the oft-recycled story as an urban legend. The claim, which has appeared on the Internet with varying details for at least two…

Does a video of a blank product insert inside a box of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine show anything unexpected or untoward? No, that's not true: The insert's front and back panels were intentionally left blank, according to the makers of the vaccine. There is a QR code, as well as a website, on the back of the box…

Did a surgeon from Ohio die shortly after receiving the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine? There is no evidence that Dr. Thomas Lee Flanigan's death on April 27, 2021, was related to the COVID-19 vaccine he had received 12 weeks earlier. The cause of his death has not been made public. Flanigan's death was reported by several news outlets…

Does a "live" video currently streaming on Facebook show a gas station explosion happening right now? No, that's not true: The video appears to be a looping piece of video footage taken in 2014 of an incident at an Exxon Mobile station in Makhachkala near the Caspian Sea in Russia. The video appeared in a post (archived here) published by…

Did Norwegian scientists say it was less risky to catch COVID-19 than to take the AstraZeneca vaccine? No, that's not true: The Norwegian Institute of Public Health believes the AstraZeneca is a good vaccine, but since Norway has a low infection rate, its younger population can wait for a vaccine alternative. The claim originated in an article published by Sputnik…

Was there a coup at the Pentagon? Were the Joint Chiefs of Staff overthrown? No, that's not true: A Pentagon spokesperson denied the claim, which was based on a single purported "confidential" source. The story was published by a website known for printing unsubstantiated and false allegations, many of which Lead Stories has debunked before. The claims appeared in an…

Did Pepsi sell more products than Coca-Cola during the April, 2021 boycott declared by conservatives to punish the company for criticizing Georgia's new voting restrictions? Did Delta cancel 100 flights because of the boycotts? No, that's not true: according to Coca-Cola and PepsiCo's first quarter earnings reports, Coca-Cola earned almost $600 million more than PepsiCo in the first quarter. Delta…

By Dana Ford and Maarten Schenk Does "new evidence" on voting systems in Antrim County, Michigan, give a full and complete picture of how tabulation machines and software work? No, that's not true: The evidence, which consists of a video showing that it is theoretically possible to swap votes, is missing important information. It ignores the safeguards in place to…

Did President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden put former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter at risk by not wearing masks inside the Carters' home? No, that's not true: Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention generally recommends wearing face coverings for maximum protection against COVID-19, fully vaccinated individuals like the Carters and the…

Did "The Simpsons" television show predict several future events including George Floyd's death, the Notre Dame cathedral fire, Donald Trump touching an orb and others? No, that's not true. A video containing clips of events that the FOX TV show "predicted" has several fake images purported to be from the show, but they were never part of "The Simpsons." The…

Did a federal agency document 3,848 deaths due to COVID-19 vaccinations? No, that's not true: The claim exploits the government's rough list of unverified reports collected by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Anyone can submit a report to VAERS. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) monitors incoming items and, if patterns emerge, investigates them. In releasing…

Did several Malaysians film a giant UFO hovering over a village? No, that's not true: The UFO featured in this video clip was the creation of filmmaker Damien White. Extensive footage of this UFO, including 3-D wireframes from the early stages of the CGI animation, were posted to White's YouTube channel in 2007. This fictional CGI short film was originally…

If COVID-19 is airborne would everybody have caught it by now? A viral video with an anti-vaccine message peddles false information about the coronavirus outbreak, throwing doubt on the authenticity of the virus by stating, "If it is airborne everybody'd've caught it already." COVID-19 is airborne but the amount of virus in the droplets that are expelled make it unlikely…

Was the phrase "How To Hit A Woman So No One Knows" Googled 163 million times during 2020 as reported in an article in The Journal of General Psychology and subsequent articles about those findings? No, that's not true: The author of the article discovered that she had used a faulty method to conduct this research. She made a public…

Did an Instagram influencer shout an expletive at Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, after Fauci told the influencer to lift up his mask at an airport? No, that's not true: the claim was made in a fake tweet and there is no evidence that Fauci has been to any airport since the…

If you die within 20 days of testing positive for COVID-19 are you therefore added to the pandemic's death toll? No, that's not true: The claim was made with no offer of proof and in apparent ignorance of the systems by which cause of death is determined and documented. Lead Stories found no publicly available evidence of a 20-day rule…

Did winning Kentucky Derby jockey John Velazquez turn down a White House invitation, saying he didn't want to see "a horse's ass"? No, that's not true: The quote is fake. Calling the purported quote "ridiculous," Velazquez's agent told Lead Stories the jockey is unfailingly polite. "He wouldn't say anything derogatory about a fly. It's just not him," said Ron Anderson,…

Was a $25,000 first-time homebuyer credit bill passed by Congress? No, that's not true: the proposed Downpayment Toward Equity Act of 2021 would allow qualifying homebuyers to receive up to $25,000 in homebuying assistance. However, the act is still a draft bill and has not been passed by Congress at the time of this writing, on May 3, 2021. The…