MSNBC footage is from 'No Kings' protest, not 2017
- Published on October 22, 2025 at 21:47
- 4 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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A flurry of conservative commentators and US Senator Ted Cruz accused Democrats of passing off old footage from a 2017 rally as the crowd that attended a "No Kings" protest in opposition to President Donald Trump, with some claiming MSNBC got in on the alleged deception. But the video aired by MSNBC was, in fact, current; it authentically depicted the throngs of people who swarmed Boston Common for an October 18, 2025 demonstration in the Massachusetts capital.
"BREAKING: Analysts are calling this the biggest FRAUD in American history. MSNBC falsely aired a Video from 2017 claiming it was LIVE footage from yesterday's 'No Kings' rally in Boston," says an October 19, 2025 post on X.
"MSNBC purposely wanted to portray a massive turnout for 'No Kings.' Which was a LIE."
The post shows aerial crowd footage credited to MSNBC and cites a proposed Community Note on X claiming the video stems "from a 2017 Boston protest, not today's No Kings rally."
Similar posts spread rapidly across X and other platforms, including Facebook, after huge crowds in all 50 states expressed anger over Trump's hardline policies.
Organizers said seven million people marched in "No Kings" protests across the country, including in Boston, as Republicans sought to cast the events as "Hate America" rallies.
Cruz, a Republican representing Texas, amplified the claims to his more than 7.1 million followers on X.
"Why are Dems dishonestly sending around a video from 2017, claiming it was this past weekend?" he wrote, responding to a post from Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren that included the MSNBC footage.
The Republican has since deleted his post.
The MSNBC footage was, in fact, captured at Boston's 2025 "No Kings" protest.
It aired during anchor Ali Velshi's live coverage of the events, immediately following an interview the journalist hosted with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, according to a recording available via the Internet Archive.
"Look at this," Velshi said. "Millions of people across the country marching, as we speak, against the policies of President Trump. This is Boston."
The clip's authenticity is corroborated by similar footage aired by other media. Videos from local news stations including NBC10 Boston, WCVB Channel 5 Boston, CBS Boston and Boston 25 News all show the same crowd, trees and stage setup from different angles (archived here, here, here and here).
Aerial footage AFP redistributed of the "No Kings" protests in Boston and other major cities also includes a similar shot from a different angle.
AFP journalists also captured photos of the substantial turnout at the event.
MSNBC publicist Olivia Sieff further confirmed to AFP in an October 21 email that "the footage is from a 'No Kings' Day protest in Boston on October 18, 2025."
"The claims are incorrect," she said of the rumors spread online.
On X, MSNBC also replied to several users to say it was "false" that the network had misrepresented a shot from 2017 (archived here and here).
The claims appeared to originate with an X Community Note authored by artificial intelligence.
Several posts cited the same Community Note, which linked to a Wikipedia page about an August 2017 rally in Boston and generic news coverage of the "No Kings" rally, but did not contain any demonstrable evidence to substantiate its allegation (archived here, here and here).
Community Notes is an X program aimed at allowing users to add context to potentially misleading posts. Only notes rated helpful by a diverse segment of users appear on posts, according to the platform (archived here).
The note about the MSNBC footage was proposed but not rated helpful. Text accompanying it says it was "proposed by an experimental AI contributor responding to requests for a note." The text adds that "like all contributors, AIs can make mistakes."
Aerial photos from the August 2017 protest and counter-protest show a different crowd (archived here).
On TikTok, NBC10 Boston commentator Sue O'Connell also refuted social media users who claimed the trees' coloring in MSNBC's footage did not accurately reflect the city's foliage in October. O'Connell filmed herself in Boston Common October 20, showing mostly green trees that matched those in the MSNBC coverage (archived here).
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about US politics here.
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