Audio of Toronto Pride parade livestream edited to include fake chant
- Published on June 29, 2026 at 22:56
- 2 min read
- By Gwen Roley, AFP Canada
Social media users quickly spread a video which appeared to show attendees at the 2026 Toronto Pride parade chanting "we're coming for your children," evoking unfounded conspiracy theories about children being groomed into joining LGBTQ communities. The clip, however, is altered; the footage was lifted from the Canadian Press's livestream of the event which does not include the falsely inserted phrase.
"Toronto Pride attendees were heard chanting, 'We're coming for your children!' during Sunday's parade," claims the caption of a now-deleted June 28, 2026 video shared to X by independent outlet Juno News, which has previously amplified incorrect claims fact-checked by AFP.
The clip appears to show representatives of Toronto Pflag -- a network for parents and allies of the LGBTQ community -- marching in the city's June 28 Pride parade at the downtown corner of Yonge and Wellesley Streets as the mentioned refrain about children is supposedly repeated.
Popular anti-LGBTQ account LibsofTikTok reshared the video on X, picking up ten thousand more likes, while Russian state media RT also posted about the supposed footage. The claim then jumped to TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, where it was amplified by the conservative American Hodgetwins account, which has also previously spread misinformation. Posts in Spanish also claimed the video included the chant.
The claims appear to reference longstanding anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theories about pedophilia and the so-called "grooming" of children (archived here). AFP previously covered claims which either allude to these false stereotypes or misrepresent the proceedings at LGBTQ events.
Similarly, the footage claimed to show the Toronto Pride parade was altered.
National news agency The Canadian Press livestreamed the full parade on YouTube at the same intersection seen in the misleading posts (archived here). About an hour and twenty minutes into the parade the Toronto Pflag entourage passes by but the chant about "coming for your children" is not heard.
The edited clip appears to have taken the exact visuals from the Canadian Press, with both videos shifting their shot to follow the marching group at the exact same instant and angle.
The Canadian Press's editor-in-chief, Andrea Baillie, concurred in a June 29 email to AFP that the video seemed to be lifted, pointing out the same timestamp and lack of chanting heard in the news agency's livestream.
After being contacted by AFP, Juno News said it had not been aware the video was edited, deleted its post and unpublished the website version of the story (archived here and here).
AFP reached out to Toronto Pflag and Pride Toronto but did not receive a response.
In 2022, AFP also identified altered images circulating following the Toronto and Winnipeg Pride parades.
Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.
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