July 19, 2026・Issue #125
Let's talk about what's going on with Snopes: the newsroom, the products, the people and everything and anything that makes Snopes, Snopes. Here's your exclusive behind-the-scenes look into what we do, available only for paying members of our fact-finding community:
1. Behind the Snopes: unpacking claims Obama ‘stiffed’ Black contractors
Our fact checkers come to work ready to investigate whatever is on readers’ minds, with a hint of skepticism and the highest degree of journalism ethics. From dangerous scientific falsehoods to celebrity conspiracy theories, the team scours niche corners of social media, conducts interviews, requests public records and more to set the record straight.
This month, Reporter Rae Deng broke down how they investigated claims Obama “stiffed” Black contractors who worked on his presidential center.
In June, we investigated a rumor that the Obama Foundation “stiffed” Black and minority contractors who worked on the former president’s new center in Chicago.
After reading through news reports, it quickly became clear to us that social media users were spreading the rumor without important context. The Obama Foundation itself didn’t appear to have any direct disputes with contractors. What was actually happening amounted to payment disputes between contractors and subcontractors, rather than anyone being outright “stiffed.”
The reports cited a lawsuit filed against a joint venture called Lakeside Alliance, which the Obama Foundation hired to manage construction on the Obama Presidential Center. In addition, two subcontractors that worked on the presidential center reportedly filed for bankruptcy. Lawsuits and bankruptcy documents are usually publicly available online — so we went digging on Court Listener, a free legal research database.
The documents indicated at least one Black subcontractor believes a structural engineering firm hired by the Obama Foundation racially discriminated against the subcontractor. Of the two companies that filed for bankruptcy, one directly cited “financial harm” resulting from the work of another subcontractor who worked on the project.
To learn more about what we found, read the full investigation.
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2. Fact-checking highlight: Mitch McConnell‘s health
To help you separate fact from fiction, our reporters are constantly unpacking rumors surrounding top headlines. Reporter Joey Esposito rounded up claims we’ve investigated about Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health and well-being.
Snopes is no stranger to fact-checking claims about the health of politicians — particularly one who has garnered as much speculation about his well-being as longtime Sen. Mitch McConnell.
After news broke McConnell had been hospitalized in early July, rumors swirled online that he was dead or dying. When his office released a photo of the Kentucky senator in the hospital, social media users expressed skepticism about whether it was real.
Here are some of the recent rumors we’ve dug into regarding McConnell’s health:
3. Overheard at Snopes
We look into a lot of weird stuff at Snopes. We imagine it’s very interesting to be a fly on the wall, so we wanted to give you a look at some of the things we have to say when fact-checking.
Overheard: “On bike had to stop to scream and cry.”
— Reporter Anna Rascouët-Paz
4. Reporter’s notebook: banana car
Sometimes our reporters come across interesting anecdotes we can‘t include in the final piece but still want to share with our members. Reporter Taija PerryCook has the inside scoop about a banana car she thought was just another online hoax — but turned out to be very real.
I was in the deep end writing one Thursday morning, investigating a missile strike. I scanned the assignments list for a straightforward claim that was a little lighter. One caught my eye: Was an image of a man driving a giant banana, pulled over by police in Montana, real? Even after nearly three years in fact-checking, I immediately assumed it was AI.
I soon learned I was wrong. A few clicks revealed the (very real) masked man in the car was Steve Braithwaite. “Now, how do I know you’re real?” he asked when we hopped on the phone. Over the course of our conversation, I learned Steve was in Seattle, where I live — a serendipitous stop on the first leg of what he hoped would be a journey around the globe, far from his native U.K.
“I was contacted by Snopes today,” his Facebook post to his loyal community of banana car enthusiasts announced a few hours later. “They wanted to check if the banana car is real or not. I told her to come and take a ride. Then she can see for herself that it isn’t.”
It was everything we dreamed of. A blinding yellow banana-shaped behemoth — once a 1993 Ford F-150 — loomed in the mechanic’s parking lot, my husband and sister incredulous beside me.
“I couldn't imagine a more fun way to see the world than from the comfort of a huge banana,” Steve said. He struck me as a contradiction, reserved and almost shy as he reassembled the floor panels. Steve worked with his head down, occasionally looking up to smile at the near constant flow of people stopping. One was a security guard who said that after a long shift, the banana car made her day. Two young kids, ecstatic, later asked whether it was the same banana car in their Guinness Book of World Records at home.
Steve told me he’s braved the elements in his criss-cross journeys across the U.S. for more than 15 years, while his growing network of fans provide room and board.
In a long-running, inside joke with his fans, Steve stubbornly maintains that the car is, in fact, AI — going so far as to plant those rumors himself in various social media comment sections. “As a species we need to boycott AI. There’s nothing creative about a machine making something,” he said. “I’m only interested in looking at a piece of art if I know a human came up with that.”
As we rode around town in the banana car later, passers-by gawked, screamed, pointed and bent over laughing. I knew an ordinary ride in my car was forever ruined for me. At a stop light, a couple ran forward, filming. They had followed his journey and couldn’t believe their eyes.
“The World Needs More Whimsy Grand Tour,” a banner above the license plate read. This jaded reporter lived the contradictions Steve embodies — an “AI fake” on wheels, an Englishman far from home and absurdity in a world dangerously low on whimsy. To feel some of that joy yourself, read the full fact check.
Mental health break
Snopes investigates some grim and depressing claims, so we know how important it is to your mental health to see something silly, funny, or just plain heartwarming. Here are some links that made us smile.
Jimothy the raccoon’s Seattle takeover - Reddit user u/Gordopolis_II
Moo Deng’s 2nd birthday - X account @AP
Anthony Gordon, the people’s princess - X user @TrollFootball
5. Snopes-worthy media
What Snopes is paying attention to across the web.
How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked Me for Days Over ‘Stolen’ Plates and Sent Police After Me
— Joel Feder, The Drive
Once Unimaginable, Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out of Google Search
— Mark Stenberg, Adweek
A Court Has Ruled That Google Is Liable for False Statements Generated by AI Overviews
— Fernanda González, Wired
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