Rerun

recurring claim

The recurring claim that mass-shooting victims and witnesses are "crisis actors"

You're probably here because of the Sep 2026 rerun. This is the 15th time since 2016 (archive start) this story has run. The previous rerun was Aug 2026.

About this story

After many US mass shootings, social media posts and videos have claimed that victims, survivors, witnesses or grieving relatives are paid "crisis actors" in a staged event. Fact-checkers and news outlets have repeatedly found these claims false. The best-known example is the Sandy Hook hoax claim (2012). Juries in Texas and Connecticut found Infowars host Alex Jones liable for defamation over it in 2022. The Connecticut jury awarded damages to families Jones had described as part of a hoax "staged by actors." Attention alternates between viral crisis-actor claims right after shootings and news coverage of the Sandy Hook lawsuits against Jones.

Sources: 1, 2

20162026

Sep 2026 Charlie Kirk shooting witness Hunter Kozak targeted with "crisis actor" claims

Hunter Kozak, a Utah Valley University student, was the last person to ask Charlie Kirk a question before Kirk was shot on campus on September 10, 2025 (Salt Lake Tribune). Kozak told ABC4 that video makers and political influencers had accused him of being a crisis actor, including one who released a six-hour series. The Tribune reported that online commenters claimed he could be seen rehearsing his reaction to the gunshot before it happened, that one woman messaged him calling him "a crisis actor," and that he has received ongoing threats. Kozak said FBI agents did not treat him as a suspect (Tribune). The Hill reported he spent the year facing death threats and conspiracy theories accusing him of involvement in the killing.

  • sltrib.com article
    She’d called him “a crisis actor” and said he was going to hell.
  • ABC News article
    the conspiracy theorists in the aftermath of Kirk’s death have frustrated him
  • x.com social post
    Hunter Kozak was the crisis actor selected to ask Charlie Kirk a question

Sources: sltrib.com needs a second source · ABC News reliable · abc4.com needs a second source · The Hill reliable

Aug 2026 Texas appeals court cuts the Heslin/Lewis award

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse was killed at Sandy Hook in 2012, sued Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The opinion records the parents' claim that Jones said on air that "Sandy Hook is a synthetic, completely fake with actors." It also records Lewis's testimony that Jones, on his show during the trial, implied she was an actress. On August 21, 2026, a three-justice panel of the Texas Third Court of Appeals cut punitive damages to $750,000 per parent ($1.5 million in total, down from $45.2 million). It left the jury's roughly $4.11 million in compensatory damages in place. AP (via CBS) reported that the ruling does not affect the Connecticut judgment against Jones.

  • courthousenews.com statement
    resulting in exemplary damages awards of $750,000 to Scarlett Lewis and of $750,000 to Neil Heslin
  • cbsnews.com article
    A Texas court on Friday slashed a $50 million judgment to $1.5 million against Infowars founder Alex Jones
  • salon.com article
    cutting a nearly $50 million judgment to about $5.6 million
  • youtube.com video

Sources: courthousenews.com needs a second source · cbsnews.com reliable · salon.com needs a second source

Oct 2025 Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones's appeal of the Sandy Hook judgment

On October 14, 2025, the Supreme Court rejected Alex Jones's appeal and let stand the roughly $1.4 billion Connecticut judgment against him. NPR describes that judgment as being over Jones's "description of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as a hoax staged by crisis actors". The judgment came out of a 2021 default ruling against Jones and his company. A jury then awarded $964 million in 2022, and a judge added $473 million in punitive damages (NPR). The justices gave no reason for the denial (ABC News; NPR). Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families, said the court "properly rejected Jones's latest desperate attempt to avoid accountability for the harm he has caused" (Axios). This is legal aftermath of the Sandy Hook "crisis actor" claim.

  • NPR article
    The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and left in place the $1.4 billion judgment against him
  • ABC News article
    The court did not explain the denial.
  • Axios article
    The Supreme Court properly rejected Jones's latest desperate attempt to avoid accountability for the harm he has caused.
  • youtube.com video
    The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and left in place the $1.4…

Sources: NPR reliable · ABC News reliable · Axios reliable

Correction, 2026-10-23: Corrected the attribution "AP via NPR" to NPR, since the NPR text carries no AP credit. Attributed the quoted statement in the Axios item to Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families, rather than to Axios. Removed the SCOTUSblog source, which covers a separate stay application.

Nov 2024 The Onion wins the Infowars auction

On Nov. 14, 2024, families of Sandy Hook shooting victims announced that The Onion had won the bidding for Infowars at a bankruptcy auction. The auction was held to help pay the more than $1 billion in defamation judgments Alex Jones owes them (PBS). The families had sued Jones for repeatedly saying on his show that the 2012 Newtown shooting "was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control" (PBS; Connecticut Public uses nearly the same words). NPR reported that Jones "accused the families of being actors," and that his supporters threatened and harassed the families for years. The bankruptcy judge still had to approve the sale. He rejected it on Dec. 10, 2024, saying the auction was flawed (NPR, Dec. 10).

  • Public Broadcasting Service article
    The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones' Infowars
  • NPR article
    Alex Jones' Infowars company has shut down, after being sold in a bankruptcy auction to The Onion. No joke.
  • x.com social post
    Last broadcast now live from Infowars studios. They are in the building. Are ordering shutdown without court approval
  • youtube.com video
    The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones' Infowars at a bankruptcy auction

Sources: Public Broadcasting Service reliable · NPR reliable · ctpublic.org needs a second source · NPR reliable

Correction, 2026-10-23: Corrected the attribution "PBS/AP" to "PBS"; the fetched pages carry no AP credit.

Jul 2024 Claims the Butler, Pennsylvania Trump rally shooting was staged

After the July 13, 2024 shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, PolitiFact reported that claims the attempt was staged "flooded the internet almost immediately." It rated them Pants on Fire, noting that one attendee was killed and two others were critically injured. CBC reported that some Trump critics said the shooting was staged, quoted one X user saying Trump looked like "a crisis actor," and explained the conspiracy meaning of that term. This is a variant of the story: the "crisis actor" label was aimed at the shooting's target, not at victims or witnesses.

  • cbc.ca article
    "Sorry, but this sure looks like Trump being a crisis actor," one user wrote on X.
  • PolitiFact article
    Some of the claims said Trump staged it himself.
  • Newsweek (pre–2013) article
    platforms and various online forums were flooded with posts alleging that the entire incident was a hoax.
  • c-span.org video Watch

Sources: cbc.ca needs a second source · PolitiFact reliable · Newsweek (pre–2013) needs a second source · cbsnews.com reliable

Oct 2022 – Dec 2022 Connecticut verdict of $965 million against Alex Jones, and what followed

Axios reported that Jones, mainly through Infowars, "for years falsely claimed the shooting was a 'false flag' operation planned by the government using 'crisis actors' to undermine gun rights." On October 12, 2022, a Connecticut jury ordered Jones and Free Speech Systems (Infowars' parent company) to pay $965 million. The plaintiffs were relatives of Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent who responded to the shooting. ABC reported they testified that Jones' followers harassed and threatened them. On November 10, Judge Barbara Bellis added $473 million. On December 2, Jones filed for bankruptcy. NPR's report on the filing said he had claimed first responders and grieving relatives "were crisis actors."

  • ABC News article
    A Connecticut jury awarded nearly $1 billion in damages to 15 plaintiffs defamed by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
  • Axios article
    The total judgment against Jones in the Connecticut lawsuit is now $1.44 billion.
  • NPR article
    He claimed that the 20 children and six adults killed there had not actually died and that first responders and grieving relatives were crisis actors.
  • youtube.com video

Sources: ABC News reliable · Axios reliable · Axios reliable · NPR reliable

Aug 2022 Texas jury verdict against Alex Jones (Heslin/Lewis v. Jones, Austin)

On Aug. 5, 2022, an Austin jury ordered Alex Jones to pay $49.3 million ($4.1 million compensatory and $45.2 million punitive) to Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis. Their 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was killed at Sandy Hook. AP described the case as being about Jones's portrayal of the massacre as "a hoax involving actors." The Texas Tribune said Jones had promoted a theory that the shooting was "staged by crisis actors." During the trial, Lewis asked Jones directly whether he thought she was an actor, and he said no. Under cross-examination he also acknowledged raising conspiracy claims about other mass shootings, including Las Vegas and Parkland. In November 2022, the trial judge declined to apply Texas's $750,000 cap on punitive damages, leaving the full award in place.

  • Public Broadcasting Service article
    A Texas jury on Friday ordered Infowars' Alex Jones to pay $49.3 million in total damages
  • Public Broadcasting Service article
    At one point, Lewis asked Jones: "Do you think I'm an actor?"
  • Public Broadcasting Service article
    marking the first time the Infowars host has been held financially liable for repeatedly claiming the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history was a hoax
  • youtube.com video
    A Texas jury on Friday ordered Infowars' Alex Jones to pay $49.3 million in total damages to the parents of a first-grader killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elem...

Sources: Public Broadcasting Service reliable · Public Broadcasting Service reliable · Public Broadcasting Service reliable · texastribune.org reliable

May 2022 – Jun 2022 Uvalde "two fathers" claim

Amerie Jo Garza, 10, was one of 19 students killed at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. CNN identified her stepfather, Angel Garza, as her "father" in an interview with Anderson Cooper on May 25. On May 26, NBC's Today identified her biological father, Alfred Garza III, as her father (PolitiFact; Snopes). An edited video putting the two clips side by side spread on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, BitChute and Rumble (AP; PolitiFact; Snopes). Posts used it to claim the men were "crisis actors" and the shooting was staged; one Facebook caption quoted by USA Today said "More likely crisis actors." PolitiFact, Newsweek and USA Today rated the claim false, and AP, Snopes and Lead Stories also debunked it. PolitiFact, AP, Snopes and USA Today cited the girl's obituary, which lists Alfred Garza III as her father and Angel Garza as her stepfather.

Sources: PolitiFact reliable · berkshireeagle.com needs a second source · Snopes reliable · Yahoo News reliable

Correction, 2026-10-23: Corrected the description of the fact-checks: only PolitiFact, Newsweek and USA Today gave a formal "false" rating (AP, Snopes and Lead Stories debunked the claim without one), and only PolitiFact, AP, Snopes and USA Today cited the obituary. Added sources for the list of platforms.

Jan 2021 – Feb 2021 Old Marjorie Taylor Greene video confronting David Hogg resurfaces, alongside her 2018 Parkland "false flag" posts

On January 27, 2021, social media users began sharing a March 2019 video of Greene following Parkland survivor David Hogg near the Capitol, and Fred Guttenberg posted the clip (Snopes). The video was filmed before Greene's election to Congress in November 2020 (Democracy Now). Coverage linked the video to Greene's 2018 Facebook activity. Newsweek reported that, in a thread about the pension of school resource officer Scot Peterson, she replied "Exactly" to a comment calling it a "pay off to keep his mouth shut" because Parkland was a "false flag planned shooting." NBC Miami reported that her since-deleted Facebook posts supported the idea "that grieving parents were crisis actors." Axios reported that Hogg told CNN that during the 2019 incident Greene "baselessly" accused him of being paid by George Soros.

  • Snopes article
    On Jan. 27, social media users began sharing a video which they described as showing Greene harassing or confronting David Hogg
  • nbcmiami.com article
    Before she was elected, Greene supported the idea that the Parkland tragedy never happened and that grieving parents were crisis actors, in past Facebook posts that have since been deleted.
  • Newsweek (pre–2013) article
    "It's called a pay off to keep his mouth shut since it was a false flag planned shooting." Greene replied: "Exactly."
  • youtube.com video

Sources: Snopes reliable · nbcmiami.com needs a second source · Axios reliable · democracynow.org needs a second source

Correction, 2026-10-23: Removed the statement that Greene was a member of Congress when the video was filmed; it was filmed in March 2019, before her election in November 2020. Corrected the Soros claim to Hogg's account of the 2019 incident as reported by Axios, rather than something shown in the video, and removed the direct CNN attribution. Added context to the "Exactly" reply and softened "spread widely" to what Snopes reports.

Nov 2018 Thousand Oaks (Borderline Bar & Grill) shooting – "same woman at three shootings" crisis-actor meme

After the Nov. 7, 2018 shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill, Susan Orfanos made a televised plea for gun control. Her son, Telemachus "Tel" Orfanos, was killed there after surviving the 2017 Las Vegas shooting (FactCheck.org). A Facebook post put her image next to images of Christine Leinonen, whose son died in the 2016 Pulse shooting, and Jan Lambourne, a survivor of the Las Vegas shooting. The post suggested all three were the same woman (FactCheck.org; Snopes). FactCheck.org said conspiracy theorists used the images "to advance the idea that she is an actor," and compared the claim to the Parkland "crisis actor" claims it had debunked. Snopes called it a "resurgence of the 'crisis actor' rumor."

  • facebook.com social post
    JUST SO YOU KNOW NOT ONLY WAS SHE A MOM OF THE CALIFORNIA AND ORLANDO SHOOTINGS, BUT SHE WAS A VITCIM (sic) OF THE Las Vegas SHOOTING TOO!!
  • factcheck.org article
    A Facebook post misidentifies two other women as Orfanos.
  • youtube.com video

Sources: factcheck.org reliable · Snopes reliable · PolitiFact reliable

Aug 2018 Platforms remove Infowars / Alex Jones content (related)

Between Aug. 5 and Aug. 6, 2018, Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify removed most or all of Alex Jones's and Infowars' channels, pages and podcasts (NPR/KUT, PolitiFact). In covering the removals, CNN, CBS News and PolitiFact all noted that Infowars or Jones had suggested or spread the theory that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax or fabricated. NPR and CBS reported that families of Sandy Hook victims were suing Jones for defamation. NPR said he faced five suits, three of them filed by Sandy Hook families; CBS said "several families" were suing and gave no count. NPR said the suits accused him of knowingly spreading false information about the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas (Parkland) shooting, Charlottesville and Sandy Hook. PolitiFact and Facebook's statement (quoted by CNN, CBS and PolitiFact) said the removals were for hate speech and related policy violations, not for false news.

  • money.cnn.com article
    It has suggested that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, and that the September 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job orchestrated by the US government.
  • kut.org article
    YouTube, Apple and Facebook have removed main outlets for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars website, citing repeated violations of policies against hate speech and glorifying violence.
  • PolitiFact article
    But that’s not why he was banned from these platforms on Aug. 5 and 6.

Sources: money.cnn.com needs a second source · kut.org needs a second source · cbsnews.com reliable · PolitiFact reliable

Correction, 2026-10-23: Corrected the description of the defamation suits: the count of three Sandy Hook family suits (out of five) comes from NPR only; CBS said "several families" were suing without giving a number.

Apr 2018 Sandy Hook parents sue Alex Jones for defamation

On April 16, 2018, Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, parents of 6-year-old Noah Pozner, sued Alex Jones, InfoWars LLC and Free Speech Systems LLC for defamation in Travis County District Court. Neil Heslin, father of Jesse Lewis, filed a separate suit. The Pozner/De La Rosa filing says InfoWars falsely claimed in 2017 that De La Rosa "was an actor in a faked interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper." It calls that claim central to Jones's argument that the shooting was staged "through the use of so-called crisis actors." The parents' lawyer, Mark Bankston, said Jones had accused his clients of being "actors who faked their children's deaths" (KUT). The suits came two months after the Parkland shooting, which NBC reported Jones had called a "false flag."

  • infowarslawsuit.com statement
    the incident was faked and manipulated by the government through the use of so-called crisis actors
  • kut.org article
    Our clients have been tormented for five years by Mr. Jones' ghoulish accusations that they are actors who faked their children's deaths as part of a fraud on the American people
  • mprnews.org article
    staged by the federal government, which hired professional actors for the purposes of undermining Second Amendment rights

Sources: kut.org needs a second source · NBC News reliable · mprnews.org reliable · infowarslawsuit.com needs a second source

Feb 2018 Parkland survivor David Hogg called a "crisis actor"

After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a YouTube video claimed that student survivor David Hogg was a paid "crisis actor." It became the top trending video on YouTube on Feb 21, 2018, and YouTube then removed it (CNBC, NBC). On Feb 20, Benjamin Kelly, an aide to Florida state Rep. Shawn Harrison, emailed a Tampa Bay Times reporter. He wrote that two students in a photo "are not students here but actors that travel to various crisis when they happen," and was fired the same day (CNN, CBS). NBC reported that Alex Jones had made similar claims about Sandy Hook in 2012, "including the idea that the people shown in news reports from the scene were actors."

  • cnbc.com article
    The top trending video on YouTube Wednesday morning advanced a burgeoning conspiracy theory
  • CNN article
    Both kids in the picture are not students here but actors that travel to various crisis when they happen.
  • NBC News article
    more than 111,000 Facebook users had shared a since-deleted post claiming the Parkland students were performers

Sources: cnbc.com reliable · CNN reliable · NBC News reliable · cbsnews.com reliable

Oct 2017 Las Vegas Route 91 shooting survivors called "crisis actors"

After the October 1, 2017 shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival killed 58 people, Newsweek reported that wounded survivors were getting death threats. The threats came from people who said the attack was a hoax and that the injured were "crisis actors." Fox News and Global News reported that Braden Matejka, a concertgoer from British Columbia who was shot in the back of the head, shut down his social media accounts after commenters called him a faker. Fox, citing the Guardian, reported that Rob McIntosh, who was shot in the arm and chest, was also accused of being an actor.

  • Newsweek (pre–2013) article
    now face death threats from conspiracy theorists convinced that the massacre was a hoax, and that wounded individuals were crisis actors.
  • Fox News article
    innocent victims such as Braden are “crisis actors” being paid – by somebody -- to pose as the wounded.
  • globalnews.ca article
    online comments from people who call him a “liar” and a “scumbag govt actor.”

Sources: Newsweek (pre–2013) needs a second source · Fox News needs a second source · globalnews.ca needs a second source · Snopes reliable

Correction, 2026-10-23: Removed two sentences about a Snopes fact-check of "Crowds On Demand" ads, which we could not confirm against the Snopes page itself.

Jun 2016 Pulse nightclub (Orlando) survivor Patience Carter called a "crisis actor"

On June 14, 2016, two days after the Pulse nightclub shooting, a YouTube video claimed that Patience Carter, who was shot in the leg during the attack, was a "crisis actor." The narrator called the event "faked" and "staged." He pointed to the fact that Carter was an intern at WTXF, a Fox affiliate in Philadelphia (Snopes and EURweb spell it "WTFX"). Snopes reported that supporters of the theory circulated an image of Carter's Instagram with a manipulated time stamp. The real post was made hours before the shooting. On Instagram, Carter thanked "all the skeptics that believe my pain isn't real," saying their "outrageous insensitivity" made her want to heal faster.

  • Snopes article
    On 14 June 2016, a video accusing a young woman who was injured during the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando of being a "crisis actor" was posted to YouTube
  • phillyvoice.com article
    ...and thank you to all the skeptics that believe my pain isn't real, it's your outrageous insensitivity that makes me want to heal even faster, and grow even stronger.

Sources: Snopes reliable · phillyvoice.com needs a second source · eurweb.com needs a second source · Snopes reliable