Fact Check: FAKE Video Of Woman Who Stabbed Someone In NYC Dancing With Pair Of Knives -- It Is Digitally Edited

Fact Check

  • by: Ed Payne
Fact Check: FAKE Video Of Woman Who Stabbed Someone In NYC Dancing With Pair Of Knives -- It Is Digitally Edited AI Body Swap

Is this a real video of the woman who stabbed someone in NYC dancing with a pair of knives? No, that's not true: The clip is a digitally manipulated version of a video posted to Britney Spears' Instagram account in September 2023. Although the clip replaces Spears with a different person, the background, down to the little dogs running around her feet, is the same as in the original.

The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) by the @TodaysNewsco account on X on Sept. 2, 2026. It read:

🚨 NEWS ALERT

🇺🇸 Footage is circulating online showing the woman accused of killing Bank of America Vice President Erin Piacenti in Times Square, reportedly recorded before the fatal attack.

This is what a screenshot of the video in the post looked like at the time of writing:

Dancing person.jpg

(Image source: post by @TodaysNewsco on X.)

The video is embedded below:

Britney Spears

The clip above is a digitally manipulated version of a video (archived here) that Britney Spears posted to her Instagram account on Sept. 25, 2023. It read:

I started playing in the kitchen with knives today 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ !!! Don't worry they are NOT real knives !!! Halloween is soon 🙈🙈🙈 !!!

This is what a screenshot of the video in the post looked like at the time of writing:

Britney Still.jpg

(Image source: post by @britneyspears on Instagram.)

The video is embedded below:

Comparison

Side by side, the similarities between screenshots of the two videos are clear. An AI body swap has substituted the woman in the T-shirt and jeans for Spears. The images show the same room, furniture, flooring, and small white dogs:

side by side.png

(Image sources: post by @britneyspears on Instagram and post by @TodaysNewsco on X.)

Police shot and killed a woman (archived here) who was accused of randomly stabbing two people with two knives in Times Square in New York City on Aug. 31, 2026. One of the victims, a 32-year-old Bank of America employee, died in the attack.

A WABC story (archived here) on the attack is embedded below:

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Ed Payne

Ed Payne is a staff writer at Lead Stories. He is an Emmy Award-winning journalist as part of CNN’s coverage of 9/11. Ed worked at CNN for nearly 24 years with the CNN Radio Network and CNN Digital. Most recently, he was a Digital Senior Producer for Gray Television’s Digital Content Center, the company’s digital news hub for 100+ TV stations. Ed also worked as a writer and editor for WebMD. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, Ed is the author of two children’s book series: “The Daily Rounds of a Hound” and “Vail’s Tales.” 

Read more about or contact Ed Payne

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