A few days after opening up about how “the mental health thing is tough,” Mookie Betts was linked to a claim about Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting. Within the MLB community, while the Yankees and the Cubs observed a moment of silence in honor of losing the activist, Los Angeles Dodgers star Blake Treinen also expressed his condolences; somehow, Betts was inexplicably caught up in a rumor mill.

On the 15th of September, a Facebook post by a certain ‘Dodgers Faithful’ shared a link to an article titled: “Breaking News: Mookie Betts Doubles Down After Controversial Remarks on the Late Charlie Kirk.” The contents therein claimed that the Dodgers star had made two comments on his Instagram story in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
1. “If you want people to speak kindly about you after you’re gone, then you should speak kindly while you’re alive.”
2. “And I stand by this. Be kind — now more than ever.” 

A good amount of digging shows that the claims are FALSE. Following Kirk’s death, Betts has made no such statements. What gave it away?

• In certain parts, the article replaces regular English fonts with Cyrillic or Greek letters. This is believed to be practiced to evade content moderation– the minor modifications help the authors bypass automated content filters.
• The page, ‘Dodgers Faithful’ has made similar claims, even with the same quotes, about Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, and more without concrete evidence.
• Facebook’s ‘page transparency’ shows similar pages that also claim ‘Betts is willing to pay for all of Kirk’s two children’s living and education expenses’ are being managed by people in Vietnam.

As absurd as it sounds, the post garnered 270,000 likes and 24,000 comments. Perhaps Betts’s popular 2018 stance on White House invitation sparked fan attention, but the three-time World Series Champion has remained out of the spotlight with regard to his political views. Returning from a stomach issue that kept him out for a good part of the season, he is focused on helping his team defend the title. Earned himself a ‘player of the week’ honor too in the process.

Moreover, neither the Dodgers nor any other verified news sources have jumped on the story. Instead, AP and a few others report how misinformation has flooded social media following the assassination. Be it with regards to the suspect or celebrity reaction to the news, false news was found in heaps. Few other instances include:

• F1 driver Max Verstappen allegedly writing “shock and sorrow.”
• Golf legend, Tiger Woods condemning the celebrations, saying, “I REFUSE to stand quiet while humanity itself is mocked.”
• Music icon Paul McCartney being present at Kirk’s memorial.

In fact, such a claim was made for David Ortiz, too. The Red Sox star though, stepped up to clear the air.

David Ortiz opened up about claims that tie him to Charlie Kirk’s family

After the passing of Charlie Kirk, somehow, many from the US Sports world were brought in on fake rumors. David Ortiz found himself in a similar rumor as Mookie Betts was dragged into. The rumor stated that Ortiz was open to financially supporting Kirk’s children, when he had not made any such promise in public.

MLB insider Hector Gomez later cleared the air on Big Papi’s behalf. “David Ortiz informs me that the information circulating on social media regarding ‘he will cover the maintenance and education of Charlie Kirk’s children after his death’ is totally FALSE in every sense of the word.”

One possible reason why Ortiz was dragged into this is that Ortiz has a charitable fund named the David Ortiz Children’s Fund. His organization has partnered with CEDIMAT, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Boston Children’s Hospital. For years, he’s been helping children fighting congenital heart disease, giving them access to medical care. The former MLB player has raised over $2 million in funds and saved over 935 lives.

But while Ortiz’s good deeds are immense, claims of helping the Kirk family is reportedly false.