Did the NFL abruptly fire three referees who officiated the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams for their involvement in the largest bribery scheme in NFL history? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the NFL fired any referees amid a bribery scandal following a game between the two California teams as of publication date. There are no news reports about referees getting fired, which would have been national news.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on December 16, 2024. It said:
BREAKING: The NFL has abruptly fired three referees who officiated the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams for their involvement in the largest bribery scheme in NFL history. Immediately......
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Dec 18 20:39:18 2024 UTC)
The post did not cite any sources for its claim. The first comment on the post included a link to a website (archived here) that expanded on the claim that the referees were fired. The article began:
In a shocking development, the NFL has announced the abrupt dismissal of three referees who officiated the high-stakes game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams. The officials are reportedly implicated in what is being described as the largest bribery scheme in the league's history.
There were quotes in the article from an unnamed NFL spokesperson that said:
'The integrity of the game is our top priority,' an NFL spokesperson stated. 'These actions are unacceptable, and we are taking immediate steps to address this issue.'
A search of the NFL website (archived here) did not return any instances of that quote, nor announcements of three referees being fired as of publication date.
Lead Stories searched key phrases on Google including, "The integrity of the game is our top priority" (archived here) and "These actions are unacceptable, and we are taking immediate steps to address this issue" (archived here). The searches turned up multiple copies of the bogus claim across social media platforms but found no instances of those quotes being used by officials announcing a referee scandal.
Lead Stories reached out to the NFL for comment and will update the story when a response is received.
Other Lead Stories fact checks about claims involving sports can be found here.
