"One post, from a Facebook page titled "US News," shows a distraught Springsteen laying flowers at a Kirk memorial. "He took a deep breath, looked toward Kirk's young daughters, and said through shaking words: 'I've buried friends, I've buried heroes . . . but watching children lose a father cuts deeper than any song I've ever written,'" the caption reads. This never happened."
"Another post claims Bob Dylan performed outside Turning Point USA headquarters, surrounded by weeping crowds, candles, and flowers. "Witnesses say he played a trembling acoustic version of 'Blowin' in the Wind' before whispering, 'Give me back my brother,'" the caption reads. This never happened. Rolling Stone also identified a post alleging that Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant stopped his Nashville show mid-set to dedicate a performance of "God Bless America" to Kirk. Again, never happened."
An AI-generated image depicted Jesus carrying Charlie Kirk to heaven, and several fabricated social media posts claimed high-profile musicians paused to honor him. Facebook posts falsely showed Bruce Springsteen laying flowers and quoted him expressing grief; other posts claimed Bob Dylan performed outside Turning Point USA and Robert Plant dedicated a song during a Nashville show. None of the musicians portrayed has publicly commented on Kirk's death. The assassination's aftermath generated a maelstrom of misinformation, much of it AI-generated, spreading on platforms such as X and Facebook. Users and commenters circulated and amplified the fabricated tributes.
Read at Fast Company
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]