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No house fire started by insurrectionist burning Taylor Swift merch | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall   Paste BN
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The claim: Jan. 6 insurrectionist burned down house while destroying Taylor Swift merch

A Feb. 11 Threads post (direct link, archive link) claims one of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol in 2021 mistakenly burnt down his own home.

"BREAKING: A January 6th insurrectionist pardoned by Donald Trump accidentally burned down his house yesterday during the Super Bowl after he lit a pile of his teen daughter’s Taylor Swift t-shirts on fire," the post reads.

The post was reposted more than 200 times in three days. Other versions of the claim were shared on Threads and Facebook.

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Our rating: False

There are no credible reports this incident happened. The claim originated from a satirical social media account run by a comedian.

Story about insurrectionist setting house ablaze is satire

President Donald Trump fulfilled one of his campaign promises on Inauguration Day by pardoning more than 1,500 people charged with storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The move has sparked backlash from critics, who say the decision will "endorse attacks on democracy."

But there are no credible reports about one of the pardoned individuals burning down their house while destroying merch for Taylor Swift, whom Trump and his supporters have repeatedly criticized.

Fact check: False impeachment claim linked to Trump's Jan. 6 pardons

The claim was originally shared on Facebook, Threads and X by an account called The Halfway Post, which includes a satire disclaimer in its bio.

"Dada news," the blurb reads. "Halfway true comedy and satire by Dash MacIntyre. I don’t report the facts, I improve them."

The account shares several similarly formatted posts daily with the same "BREAKING" opener.

The X page's banner shows an ad for a 2021 book called, "Satire In The Trump Years: The Best Of The Halfway Post." The book's description on Amazon says it "mocks (Trump and his supporters) with savage humor" and includes a collection of satire and parody of the Trump family and administration, "MAGA racists," "gun nuts," and more.

The Amazon listing and account's bio both mention Dash MacIntyre, who describes himself as a comedian on his X account.

The Threads post is an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where claims written as satire and presented that way originally are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.

Paste BN reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

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