Image shows RFK's 'debate' moderator, not JFK Jr. | Fact check
Joedy McCrearyThe claim: Image shows John F. Kennedy Jr. attending 'debate'
A June 28 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) includes two images of a bearded, greying man, one of which shows him watching someone speak behind a lectern.
“Get your (popcorn) ready," reads the emoji-littered caption. "Look who was at the debate last night (wink) possibly a VP (smile) #jfkjr."
The post received more than 500 likes in five days.
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Our rating: False
Journalist John Stossel told USA TODAY that he's the man in the image. It's not John F. Kennedy Jr, who died in a plane crash in 1999. The image shows Stossel on the set of a solo event held by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Image shows former ABC News reporter, not JFK Jr.
John F. Kennedy Jr. was killed in July 1999 when his plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. During the quarter century that followed, promoters of the baseless Qanon conspiracy theory expected him to reappear and serve as vice president under Trump.
But that’s not him in the Instagram images. Rather, Stossel – a former ABC News reporter – told USA TODAY that he is the man shown in the photos.
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The use of the phrase “the debate last night” suggests a reference to the one pitting Trump against Biden. But the post instead shows the set of an alternate solo event held by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – the first cousin of John F. Kennedy Jr. who is running for president as an independent. He answered the same questions posed to former President Trump and President Joe Biden in real-time during a livestream he called “The Real Debate.”
The image in the Instagram post was first shared by Stossel – the moderator of that event – more than two hours before it began and appears to show a rehearsal. Stossel is dressed in casual attire, not the suit and tie he wore during the broadcast. While Stossel's account name appears in the version he posted to Instagram, it is not shown in the post in question.
The circumstances surrounding the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. have become well established during the past 25 years: He was flying his wife and sister-in-law to a wedding on July 16, 1999, when their Piper Saratoga plunged into the ocean off the Martha’s Vineyard coast. Their bodies were recovered five days later. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed pilot error in its crash report, and Kennedy’s death certificate states he died instantly from multiple traumatic injuries suffered in the crash.
The Instagram user who shared the post could not be reached for comment by USA TODAY.
Our fact-check sources:
- John Stossel, July 2, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- John Stossel, June 27, Instagram post
- John Stossel, June 27, X post
- The New York Times, July 19, 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr., Heir To a Formidable Dynasty
- USA TODAY, Dec. 3, 2014, Celebrity plane crash victims
- The Washington Post, accessed July 2, Crash and Search Time Line
- National Transportation Safety Board (Scribd), accessed July 2, National Transportation Safety Board Aviation Accident Data Summary
- The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (The Smoking Gun), July 27, 1999, Standard Certificate of Death
- People, July 14, 2023, John F. Kennedy Jr.'s Death: The Details Behind His Tragic Plane Crash and Its Aftermath
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