Did the Kansas City Chiefs refuse to participate in Pride Month because "it's extremely woke"? No, that's not true: The website the article originated from is self-described as satirical and says on its "About Us" page that its content is "the freshest fake news." A Google News search did not yield any evidence that the claim about the Chiefs was based in reality.
The claim appeared in an article published by SpaceXMania on June 6, 2024, titled "Breaking: NFL Team Kansas City Chiefs Refuses To Participate In Pride Month, 'It's Extremely Woke'" (archived here) which opened:
In a surprising and controversial decision, the Kansas City Chiefs, one of the NFL's most prominent teams, have announced that they will not be participating in Pride Month celebrations this year. The team has stated that they find the event "extremely woke," sparking a widespread debate and drawing both praise and criticism from various quarters.
Users on social media saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Breaking: NFL Team Kansas City Chiefs Refuses To Participate In Pride Month, "It's Extremely Woke"
When viewers click on the article, a small gray "Satire" label can be seen above the headline. Evidence of this is pictured below. Circling in green done by Lead Stories:
(Source: Spacexmania.com screenshot taken on Mon Jun 10 13:39:44 2024 UTC)
The "About Us" section of SpaceXMania.com (archived here) lets readers know they are about to receive "fake news ... and a good dose of satire":
Our mission? To bring you the freshest fake news, some sassy analysis, and a good dose of satire, all rolled into one crazy concoction that orbits around Elon Musk and everything that's lighting up the viral/trending charts.
The article alleges that the announcement to not participate in Pride Month was made through an "official statement" straight from the team's "front office." Searching through the News tab on Chiefs.com, the official website for the NFL team, Lead Stories did not find an official statement that backed up this claim.
Lead Stories did a search using keywords on the Google News archive of thousands of reliable information sites, visible here, which found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim (archived here).
Other Lead Stories articles on claims concerning Pride Month are here.
More Lead Stories articles on claims related to the Kansas City Chiefs are here.
