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In mid-September 2026, social media users alleged U.S. truckers had announced a plan to strike beginning on Oct. 1 to protest record-high diesel fuel costs of more than $6 a gallon. The posts claimed the stoppage of transportation would lead to nationwide food and supply chain shortages.

There was no evidence to support this unfounded rumor. Queries of DuckDuckGo, Google and other search engines found no news media outlets or other authoritative sources reporting about truckers planning to strike. Reddit’s r/Truckers subreddit, a forum with hundreds of thousands of weekly visitors, featured a post with commenters saying they had heard nothing of a strike.

We emailed the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association to ask about this rumor. The organization’s website says it has over 150,000 members in the U.S. and Canada operating more than 240,000 trucks and truck fleets. A spokesperson responded, “Our awareness is consistent with yours in that it seems to be social media chatter at this point in time.”

We also emailed the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to ask about the rumor. The labor union has a freight division it says is made up of tens of thousands of Teamsters. We will update this article if we receive a response.

Where the unfounded rumor spread

Searches of social media websites indicated a video, first posted on Facebook (archived) and Instagram (archived) on Sept. 15, was potentially the most-popular content promoting the rumor. Users have since reposted the same video across platforms, including Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and X (archived). Others also generally shared the rumor of a trucker strike.

In the video, which ends with a request for users to buy paid subscriptions, a man tells viewers about the purported strike and subsequent food shortages:

In the trucking world, they put out a deal to strike until the fuel prices drop. Shut down Oct. 1. Park it. Stand together. Make their voices heard. Truckers are done.

You know what that means if they do that? Food shortages. Food’s not getting to grocery stores. Nothing’s getting anywhere.

What have I been telling you? Make sure you’ve got enough f***ing food for a month to three months, even six months. S***’s gonna hit the fan. S*** is hitting the fan, currently. And with this deal, this is huge.

A lot of people don’t understand if trucks aren’t moving, you’re not getting anything. Grocery stores aren’t getting a f***ing thing. Nobody’s getting a thing. Just FYI.

That should probably freak you out a little bit because that happened basically during COVID. Remember when you couldn’t find anything in the f***ing stores. This’ll be a lot worse, if it comes to fruition. Just FYI. Please like, share, follow. Share my s***. Subscribe for a buck.

We messaged the man in the video on Facebook and Instagram to ask for evidence, and will update this story if we receive more information.

A TikTok user’s video (archived) also promoted the rumor with the caption “50,000 Truckers Threaten Strike: What It Means For America.” In the video, the user claims, without evidence, that 50,000 truckers “are reportedly said to” no longer drive as of Oct. 1.

The unfounded rumor potentially originated out of a previous strike claim (archived) appearing to pertain to the dates of Oct. 1-10, 2025.

For further reading, we previously reported the truth of a story regarding truckers banding together to save someone from jumping off an overpass.

Claim:

A member of the legal team for U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who has challenged President Donald Trump’s actions involving the Kennedy Center, wrote in a court declaration that she saw a forklift repeatedly run into pillars at the building.

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Context

We are unable to determine why the forklift was running into the pillars, and cannot confirm whether it was a malfunction or intentional.

In mid-September 2026, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., announced it would be closing its doors to the public due to financial concerns and renovations. Soon after, U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, a Kennedy Center trustee, filed a motion requesting an emergency hearing for officials to explain the closure. 

A claim then spread online that a court document said a legal observer witnessed a forklift ramming into columns at the Kennedy Center columns. Snopes readers sent us the following post (archived), asking whether the forklift was intentionally damaging the building:

We had thought the “safety issues” at the Kennedy Center were caused by the Trump administration. It appears that might be the case. In a sworn declaration filed today, a legal observer said she witnessed a forklift carrying fencing drive to the north side of the building and repeatedly run into and hit the Kennedy Center’s pillars. They had to damage the building to make it unsafe so they could close it for renovations.

A legal observer did indeed write in a court document about witnessing a forklift repeatedly strike the columns of the Kennedy Center on Sept. 16, 2026. Therefore, the claim is true.

We cannot, however, determine why the forklift was ramming into the pillars.

We reached out to the Kennedy Center to learn more about the forklifts at the venue and ask why one was striking the pillars. We will update this post accordingly. 

On Sept. 16, the legal team representing Beatty in her case against President Donald Trump, submitted a declaration (archived) to the court describing what a member of their team witnessed. Bridget Kennedy-Bailey of the Washington Litigation Group described her visit to the Kennedy Center on Sept. 16:

I saw a forklift carrying what appeared to be a more permanent form of fencing drive over to the north side of the building. I saw the forklift run into and hit the pillars on the building several times.

Kennedy-Bailey described arriving that morning and being told by an employee that the Kennedy Center was closed for the day and that the order came from “higher-ups.” A public relations representative told her the building was closed for repairs, she said. Kennedy-Bailey also described other forklifts moving white-and-orange gates to the front of the building. 

At the bottom of the declaration, Kennedy-Bailey wrote, “I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.”

We cannot determine the intention behind the forklift ramming into the pillars until we hear from the Kennedy Center or an employee willing to speak on the record. 

The forklift rumor came after a judge said changing the building’s name to include Trump’s name would require congressional approval, while the Trump-appointed board argued that the Kennedy Center’s survival depended on the name change. 

Beatty described Trump having a “tantrum” during a closed-door meeting with the trustees on Sept. 15, after the judge blocked his bid to have his name on the Center. “He went into name-calling, from everything from trying to say that I was an obstructionist, I was dumb,” Beatty said on MS NOW.

For further reading, Snopes has covered numerous claims about the Trump administration’s work on the Kennedy Center.

Sources

Claim:

Musician Macklemore once performed in a Jewish caricature costume that featured antisemitic tropes.

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In May 2014, Macklemore performed in a costume that featured several antisemitic tropes: a very large hooked nose, a fake black beard and a black, bowl-cut wig reminiscent of a kippah — a Jewish skullcap. His outfit also resembled the suits some Orthodox Jewish men wear. After experts and Jewish people online pointed out the tropes, Macklemore said in a lengthy post on his website that he did not realize his choice of costume evoked antisemitic imagery and apologized, linking to the Anti-Defamation League’s website. The ADL reportedly welcomed Macklemore’s apology and took him “at his word that he did not have any ill intent.”

Following the removal of musician Macklemore as an opening act on singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran’s tour in September 2026, a rumor spread online claiming Macklemore once performed in an Jewish caricature costume featuring antisemitic tropes. The cancellation of Macklemore’s performances came after he advocated for Palestinian freedom during a concert. 

The claim appeared across social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and X. Actor Josh Malina, who is Jewish, wrote on X, “Nah. Don’t defend this guy” (archived):

Malina also shared photographs of a man, presumably Macklemore, in an obviously fake black beard and wig in a bowl cut, as well as an exaggeratedly large hooked nose. The man also wore black trousers and a black jacket, reminiscent of suits some Orthodox Jewish men wear. In one of the images, the man made a gesture reminiscent of a Nazi salute.

Meanwhile, several Snopes readers emailed us and searched the website seeking to confirm whether Macklemore had once performed in such a costume.

The claim is true and the photos are authentic. On May 16, 2014, Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, performed in this costume at the opening night of an exhibition titled “Spectacle: The Music Video,” at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. (The museum was then known as the EMP Museum.) 

While Macklemore was photographed with his arm up while wearing the costume, it’s unclear whether he intentionally made a gesture resembling a Nazi salute, as posts suggested.

Macklemore posted on his website three days later, explaining his costume choice and apologizing. 

We reached out to Macklemore for comment on the fact that the photos of his costume resurfaced. We also contacted the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to fighting antisemitism and extremism, and Malina. We await their responses.

The costume’s antisemitic references

Many photos of Macklemore’s performance and costume that day appeared on the reputable image repository Getty Images, including two of the photographs Malina posted. 

We also found a video of the performance posted on May 21, 2014.

The costume harkens back to some of the most virulent antisemitic tropes in history. One example is appeared in 1893 on the cover of a notorious antisemitic newpaper in France known as La Libre Parole Illustrée, the illustrated supplement of La Libre Parole:

(Albert Esnault, La Libre Parole Illustrée, via Wikimedia Commons)

The newspaper bears the tagline “La France aux Français !” (“France for the French!”), a well-known far-right slogan marking national preference to white Catholics in the country, as well as outspoken racism and antisemitism. 

The 19th-century image shows a hand-drawn black-and-white caricature of a man with a torn coat and pockets full of money. The man is gripping the planet with claws growing out his fingers and toes as coins fall out and bills gather in his hands and between his toes. He is wearing a hat reminiscent of the Jewish skullcap — a kippah — and a black beard. He has a large hooked nose and is smiling. The caption reads “leur patrie” (“their fatherland” in French). 

The caricature plays on racist stereotypes that Jews do not belong to any country and are loyal only to the global Jewish community (this was before the foundation of Israel in 1948). It also reinforces the prejudicial stereotype that Jews are greedy, appearing poor but secretly rich. 

A more recent caricature known as the “Happy Merchant” appeared in the U.S. far-right antisemitic newspaper WAR (White Aryan Resistance) in 1992. The image, attributed to cartoonist Nick Bougas, shows a man with black hair and beard with a hooked nose, a humped back and a seemingly evil smile. He is wearing a kippah and rubbing his hands, as if he were plotting:

(A. Wyatt Mann (Nick Bougas), in WAR newspaper.)

Macklemore apologizes

In his explanation for his choice of costume, Macklemore said he loved to wear costumes and the costume store “usually” sold large noses. He said he chose black hair because it was “the furthest color from my natural hair,” adding he wanted to be unrecognizable. 

He said some people told him he looked like The Beatles’ Ringo Starr, while others said he resembled former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. 

“I wasn’t attempting to mimic any culture, nor resemble one,” the singer wrote. “A ‘Jewish stereotype’ never crossed my mind.”

Macklemore ended his post with an apology. “I truly apologize to anybody that I may have offended,” he said. “I hope this better explains the situation and my point of view.”

He added a post-scriptum linking to the website of the ADL, which offers educational material about such tropes.

In response, the ADL reportedly accepted Macklemore’s apology, according to The Guardian.  

“We welcome Macklemore’s apology for wearing a costume that, regardless of his motives, reminded many people of an antisemitic caricature,” The Guardian quoted ADL director Abe Foxman as saying. “We take him at his word that he did not have any ill intent and unreservedly accept his apology.”

For further reading, Snopes verified in 2023 that Macklemore had posted about the “unfolding genocide” in Gaza. In the same post, the singer called Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that resulted in the death of 1,200 people an “abomination.”