Did Metallica's frontman James Hetfield publicly suggest that the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was the result of "a dark plan"? No, that's not true: No credible media outlets reported that. The musician didn't write that on social media, either, because he is not on such platforms.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook, where it was published on September 15, 2025. It opened:
'This is a dark plan -- it cannot possibly be a coincidence' -- James Hetfield shocks the world after Charlie Kirk's deathIn a statement that shook the public, Metallica frontman James Hetfield declared that Charlie Kirk's death was not just a random tragedy, but carried the mark of a conspiracy that had been scripted long before.His words came just as 4chan revealed the identity of Skye Valadez, an obscure SoundCloud artist who had released a chilling track titled 'Charlie Kirk Dead at 31' more than a month before the tragedy occurred. After Kirk's passing, the track was swiftly deleted and Valadez's profile location was changed to the haunting message: 'leave me alone.' Witnesses also claimed they had seen him at an earlier event, directly questioning Kirk.James Hetfield delivered a powerful statement: 'No family, no nation should have to endure this kind of darkness without answers. If this is a conspiracy, justice must be served.'Not stopping at words, Hetfield also vowed to support Kirk's family legally and called for an independent investigation. His firm stance immediately set off a firestorm in the media, with many convinced that the truth could no longer be hidden.
A composite image featuring Kirk and Metallica's lead singer illustrated the post. This is what it looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post by Pulse of Music at facebook.com)
The post discussed a Utah musician who reportedly uploaded a song (archived here) named "Charlie Kirk Dead at 31" on the internet before the assassination of the conservative activist on September 10, 2025 (archived here). That prompted social media speculations -- for example, here (archived here) - that the author of the song could have been involved in the fatal shooting of Kirk. However, authorities later identified and formally charged a different person (archived here): 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.
Lead Stories found no evidence that James Hetfield (archived here) made the public statement concerning the killing of Kirk attributed to him in the post reviewed in this fact check. Searches across Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) showed no media reports about it, and the musician did not write anything on social media because he doesn't use social media, as Metallica's account on X reminded its fans on several occasions, most recently on March 7, 2025 (archived here):
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/Metallica)
The link from the post on Facebook did not lead to the supposed visual evidence foreshadowed by the use of the verb "WATCH" -- instead, it would bring people to a Vietnam-based website that ran its own version of the purported "story" (archived here) that attributed the identical quote not only to Hetfield but also to another musician, Jon Bon Jovi (archived here), who didn't say that, either (archived here).
The website lacked any disclosure typically published in the missing About section. It displayed a disclaimer (archived here) that read:
The Service is provided to You "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" and with all faults and defects without warranty of any kind. ...
The disclaimer specifically mentioned that the above warning covers "the information, content, and materials" it publishes. Furthermore, it didn't guarantee that "the content, or e-mails sent from or on behalf of the Company are free of viruses, scripts, trojan horses, worms, malware, timebombs or other harmful components."
