We’ve all seen the AI-generated Jesus cradling the late conservative pundit Charlie Kirk in his arms and carrying him to the gates of heaven, right?
According to a number of Facebook posts, everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Bob Dylan supposedly paused to honor Kirk after the right-wing activist and Turning Point USA founder’s assassination in Utah earlier this month, Rolling Stone reports.
Of course, the tributes are just as fake as AI Jesus.
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.
None of the musicians depicted in these memes has commented publicly on Kirk’s death. The aftermath of his assassination has been a maelstrom of misinformation, much of it taking the form of AI-generated slop on platforms like X and Facebook. (Fast Company has reached out to Meta and X for comment.)
“How many MAGA grandmas are believing this and sharing it?” wrote one Facebook commenter. “So far I’ve seen the same thing from Bob Seger, John Fogerty, Rod Stewart, Metallica, and now Robert Plant,” another added. “Who’s next? Elvis Presley?”
For anyone willing to think longer than a split second, these posts are obviously fake. Yet with the internet drowning in slop and misinformation—much of it far more convincing than Dylan performing at a vigil—it has become second nature to question everything online.
Even the official White House statement mourning Kirk’s death sparked conspiracy theories, with some users pointing to Donald Trump’s left pinky as “proof” the scene was fabricated.
These days, it’s AI until proven otherwise.
The application deadline for Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, October 3, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
