Was a Detroit man arrested for kissing his daughter and posting a photo of the kiss online? No, there's no evidence that's true: The Detroit police have no record of such an arrest. Also, a father kissing his daughter is not illegal -- a fact that casts further doubt on the claim.
The claim appeared in an Instagram post on July 20, 2022. The post included an image of a man and his daughter kissing. Alongside their photo was an image of the late Kobe Bryant kissing his daughter. The post read, in part:
FB has been in an uproar after this photo of a local Detroit man kissing his daughter on the lips was posted on his FB page. Many women felt it was inappropriate and it has since led to the man's arrest. Some women are taking to social media to say there is a double standard.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
The Instagram post, which did not provide any sourcing to substantiate its claim, was referring to the following Facebook post, published by Laron Demarko Ray on July 19, 2022:
In subsequent posts, many not suitable for work, Ray identified the girl in the photo as his daughter and defended their kissing on the lips. Here's one example:
Lead Stories reached out to Ray via his Facebook page to ask about the claim. In a message, dated July 22, 2022, he responded:
Come on wit the dumb questions enjoy yo day man
He did not reply to a follow-up message that asked for clarification on whether his message meant that he was arrested or not.
Lead Stories also reached out to the Detroit police department, which said that it had no record of an arrest related to Ray kissing his daughter and posting an image of the kiss online. In a message emailed on July 22, 2022, a police spokesman wrote:
At this time we're not showing that a person by that name was arrested and have no additional information.
Lastly, it's worth mentioning that a father kissing his daughter is not illegal -- a fact that casts further doubt on the unsubstantiated claim.
