Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz extended a finger at a recent college football game, but not the middle one

In a viral social media post comparing the vice presidential nominees, shots are not so much fired as f-bombs are dropped. 

"Vance vs. Walz," the post begins, laying out a case that favors Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the Republican nominee, over Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee. "Vance denied entry at a restaurant. He wishes them continued success and pays everyone’s tab anyway. Walz booed at the football game. He flips the crowd the bird." 

"Is this true?" one Facebook post said. It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

The post fumbles a critical detail: Walz did not give fans the middle finger. 

On Sept. 28, Vance visited a Primanti Bros. restaurant in North Versailles, Pennsylvania. 

Sean Logue, the Republican chair of Washington County, Pennsylvania, was one of about 100 supporters of former President Donald Trump who was there after being tipped off that Vance was going to visit, CBS News reported. 

"The manager told patrons, other Republicans, that Vance is not allowed to make a campaign stop at Primanti Brothers," Logue said. "And then when there was pushback to say, 'Wait a second, Kamala Harris just did this a month ago,' the response was, 'Well, if he wants to sit down and order food, we can't stop him.’"

When Vance arrived ahead of an event in Monroeville, Logue said that the restaurant's manager ran out to tell him that he was not allowed in the restaurant, that he couldn't have a campaign stop there, and that if he did go inside, the manager would call the police and file trespassing charges.

Logue told CBS News that a Vance staffer tried to negotiate with the Primanti manager, who called the restaurant’s corporate office, and Vance eventually walked back into the restaurant.

TribLive.com, a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania news outlet, reported that Vance said the manager "just got a little nervous, but it’s a great local business" and encouraged people to "keep on supporting it." 

Vance also said: "We paid for everybody’s food, we gave them a nice tip."

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Primanti Bros. echoed this in an X post later that day: "Without any advance notice, today’s campaign stop caused some momentary confusion for our staff. However, Senator Vance and his team were welcomed into our restaurant shortly after and engaged with our guests inside and on the property. Senator Vance’s supportive comments that our manager got a little nervous given the Secret Service, police and crowd accurately reflect the nature of what occurred, and we are glad that it was resolved quickly."

The same day that Vance visited the restaurant, Walz was in Michigan to watch the University of Minnesota play the University of Michigan in football. 

Video from the game shows Walz leaving the field at Michigan Stadium, waving and at one point extending an arm and finger. In the audio that plays with the video, a man can be heard yelling, "Trump 2024, baby!" Other video footage from outside of the stadium shows people booing Walz.

The video of Walz leaving the field isn’t crisp, but he’s not flipping someone off — he’s pointing. That becomes clear when comparing the moment to an Instagram photo Walz posted Sept. 29. 

The image was taken of Walz from the front as he exited the field; he’s surrounded by the same people that appear in the video. And here he’s obviously pointing. 

We rate claims he flipped the crowd the bird False.