Skip to content

Friday, Aug. 27, 2021

Have no politicians died from COVID-19?

Dana Ford, Lead Stories

no

A pensive-looking Will Smith is being used in social media to illustrate the claim, "When there's a deadly worldwide virus but it hasn't killed any politicians:"

In fact, 18 U.S. politicians at various levels and quite a few politicians in other countries have passed away from COVID-19.

Probably the best-known one was Herman Cain, who ran for president in 2012. So did Colombia's defense minister, Brazilian senators and a number of African leaders.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.

Learn More

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.