Image shows an anti-Trump billboard outside Madison Square Garden.
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Counter protesters chant during a campaign rally by Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP)
No, New Yorkers didn’t erect an anti-Trump sign outside Madison Square Garden during his rally
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The image is altered.
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The original photo taken April 20, 2020, showed a sign that said "We (Love) New York," with a heart shape representing the word "love."
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The sign’s sentiment was shared as a pandemic quickly spread through New York City, one of the COVID-19 outbreak’s early U.S. hotspots.
Former President Donald Trump’s supporters packed into New York’s Madison Square Garden on Oct. 27 as he kicked off his final full week of campaigning, delivering what his team called his "closing message."
New Yorkers haven’t backed a Republican for president in 40 years and some gathered outside the event space to protest. But they didn’t erect an anti-Trump billboard outside the arena, despite online claims that appeared to show otherwise.
An Oct. 27 X post showed an image of a Madison Square Garden sign that read "F--- Trump" and pictured an obscene hand gesture. "Looks like New Yorkers are all set for Donnie's Madison Square Garden Nazi rally today," the post’s caption read.
The same image circulated on Threads ahead of the rally.
The Threads post 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.)
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(Screenshot from X.)
That’s because the image was digitally manipulated. The anti-Trump sign was tacked onto an image taken by a Getty Images photographer in April 2020, as coronavirus cases surged in New York City.
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Both images featured a clock showing "3:05" and a Verizon advertisement.
But the original image showed Madison Square Garden with a "We (love) New York" sign displayed outside — a show of solidarity for the city as it became an early hotspot of the nation’s COVID-19 outbreak.
We rate the claim that an image shows a "F--- Trump" billboard outside Madison Square Garden False.
RELATED: Fact-checking Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in New York City
Our Sources
X post, Oct. 27, 2024
Threads post, Oct. 27, 2024
NBC News, Trump's Madison Square Garden rally overshadowed by his allies' crude and racist remarks, Oct. 28, 2024
270toWin, New York, accessed Oct. 29, 2024
Getty Images, New York City Continues To Idle During Coronavirus Shutdown, April 22, 2020
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No, New Yorkers didn’t erect an anti-Trump sign outside Madison Square Garden during his rally
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