Did Senator Mitch McConnell die on February 17, 2025 at the age of eighty-two? No, that's not true: A post announcing McConnell's death was published by a parody account spoofing the real account Breaking 911. The spoof account has a disclaimer which says, "Parody artist. If you fell for my bait, you owe me eight dollars." As of February 18, 2025 there has been no credible reporting that Senator McConnell has died.
The false claim was made in a post (archived here) published on X on February 17, 2025. It opened:
BREAKING: Mitch McConnell has died at the age of eighty-two.
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tue Feb 18 16:54:42 2025 UTC)
The false post was made by an account named and styled after another account Breaking 911. The spoof account (pictured below left) has the handle @Brkng911, while the real account with over a million followers (below right) has the handle @Breaking911. The real account also has a gold 'Full Access' X verification badge. The spoof account has a disclaimer which states:
Pounded a twink or six million. The king of the gays. Parody artist. If you fell for my bait, you owe me eight dollars. Cash App: $TrollKingDennis
(Source: Lead Stories composite image with X screenshots taken on Tue Feb 18 16:54:42 2025 UTC)
A search of Google News for "Mitch McConnell died" (archived here) did not return any recent relevant results.
Lead Stories has reached out to the office of Senator Mitch McConnell and will update this article if we receive a reply.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims associated with Mitch McConnell can be found here.
