Did Metallica's James Hetfield pledge to cover all educational expenses for Charlie Kirk's two children? Viral claim debunked

Metallica's James Hetfield is going viral after claims spread on Facebook that he is supposedly bearing all costs for Charlie Kirk's two children. The heavy metal band's fan page, Pulse of Music, first posted about it on September 12, 2025.

The fan page claimed that while performing in Nashville, Metallica's frontman, James Hetfield, seemingly paused for a moment before telling the crowd of 25,000 that he wished all of them would observe a minute of silence for Charlie Kirk.

After the moment of silence, James Hetfield allegedly started singing God Bless America, turning a concert into a "tribute, a reminder of loss," and "resilience."

The fan page also made another post the same day, this time claiming that James Hetfield reportedly said he would cover all living and educational expenses for Charlie Kirk's two children: his three-year-old daughter and 16-month-old son. The two posts garnered thousands of reactions and even spread on other social media platforms.

The two viral posts claiming that Metallica's frontman, James Hetfield, offered to pay all expenses for the political commentator's kids and paid a tribute to him are fake.

The fan page, Pulse of Music, is known for spreading fake news, often with AI-generated images. While some netizens believed it and praised the band member, others jokingly pointed out that other celebrities had made the same pledge.

"According to Facebook, so did P Diddy, Elon Musk, and about 18 other celebs," one netizen wrote.

"I found this same article last night but it was a football player. So now I know that these are circulating, and they're fake," another user added.

Similar to James Hetfield, Queen's guitarist Brian May's false statement spread on Facebook, and the musician replied to AI-generated posts

After right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk was assassinated on September 10, 2025, many Facebook users used AI to generate images of celebrities.

Then they created unfounded news to spread misinformation. Brian May, the band Queen's lead guitarist, noticed the fake news headlines and uploaded screenshots of them on his Instagram.

May noted that the posts, one of which claimed he passed out from grief at Charlie Kirk's memorial, were false. He shared that he is only active on Instagram, and the "time-wasting scammers" were writing "rubbish" news with their "pathetic spelling."

"Just so you know, folks... There are time-wasting scammers out there, none of this is me. It's all bogus. I don't do Facebook. The only medium I use is Instagram, and I only have this one account. Please ignore all the rubbish. Actually, the pathetic spelling probably immediately gives it away," Brian May wrote.

AI is continuing to spread misinformation about Charlie Kirk. X's AI chatbot, Grok, told netizens that Kirk was alive after being shot, even though he passed away immediately. Perplexity AI claimed he was never shot.

In another instance, Grok claimed that the viral video of Charlie getting shot was a "meme edit." Grok also enhanced the suspect image incorrectly and stated that the shooter was an older man.

While AI-generated posts are increasing, Tyler Robinson, the suspect, is in custody. Meanwhile, Metallica's James Hetfield has not addressed the fake news.