Did a viral image correctly what was printed on the t-shirt worn by Sean Strickland as he was escorted from a United Fighting Championship (UPC) viewing party near the White House? No, that's not true: Other images from the scene don't show him wearing a "TRUMP IS IN THE EPSTEIN FILES" t-shirt. A spokesperson for a law enforcement agency involved in Strickland's removal told Lead Stories that his outfit was different, and three online AI detectors found evidence generative AI was used to create the image.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X by @YourAnonNews on June 15, 2026. It opened:
This should be an album cover.
The attached image purported to show Strickland in a t-shirt that read:
Trump is in the Epstein files.
Here is what it looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @YourAnonNews on X.)
The picture went viral shortly after UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was removed (archived here) from a fan event on June 14, 2026.
Law enforcement statement
Emily Williams (archived here), the acting chief at the U.S. Marshals Service Office of Public Affairs, told Lead Stories via email on June 16, 2026:
The image is semi-correct, but the shirt is AI. The original has him in different clothing.
Comparison to news photos
The real photo of the scene was published, for example, by The Los Angeles Times (archived here). In it, we can see Strickland wearing a black hoodie that mostly covered the words on his black t-shirt. However, the partially visible first line showed the letters 'NSTE. That sequence of letters is not found in "Trump", which was the first word of the t-shirt in the AI image on social media. Furthermore, whatever inscription Strickland wore was followed by what appears to be the bright green Monster Energy logo that was absent from the viral image:
(Image source: The Los Angeles Times.)
The same green symbol also appears in the video of the scene published, for instance, by the Independent (archived here).
AI glitches
The picture shared on social media had several inconsistencies pointing toward the use of AI.
For example, the first line on two identical bulletproof vests worn by men in identical uniform appears to be the same, "POLICE", but the second line is different. As the fragment of the image below shows, one person's vest read "US MARS..." while another's read "IS" instead of "US":
(Image source: post by @YourAnonNews on X.)
In the real photo from actual news reports (on the right in the composite image below), the item that appears before the word "POLICE" on the bearded man's vest is not some strange insignia -- it's a clasp:
(Image sources: X, The Los Angeles Times.)
Then, the letter preceding "R" on the dark uniform of a man holding Strickland does not quite look like any letters in the English alphabet:
(Image source: post by @YourAnonNews on X.)
AI detection tools
Hive Moderation said it was 99.1% likely that the image was generated or modified using AI:
(Image source: Hive Moderation.)
Sightengine concluded that the image was 99% likely to contain AI:
(Image source: Sightengine.)
ZeroGPT ruled that the picture was "96% FAKE":
(Image source: ZeroGPT.)
Lead Stories found no instances of reputable media organizations republishing the image reviewed in this fact check to illustrate reports about real-life events.
