A gunman's thwarted attack at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday cut the event short after the individual rushed past security.
Following the incident, social media was flooded with a rapid wave of misinformation, false claims, and conspiracy theories. Influencers and anonymous accounts quickly moved to fill the information void, with many describing the attack as an elaborate hoax.
The term staged exploded across social media, appearing in over 300,000 posts on X by midday Sunday. Both left-wing and right-wing accounts spread these unfounded theories without evidence, with some claiming the event was staged in response to President Donald Trump’s poll numbers.