George Floyd: Debunking False Narratives & Misinformation

In this April 23, 2021, documents picture, Damarra Atkins pays respect to George Floyd at a mural at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. Five years considering that Floyd’s murder, some remain to push the incorrect narratives about his reason of death. (AP).

The Murder of George Floyd

On Might 25, 2020, a white Minneapolis policeman eliminated George Floyd, who was Black, by kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes during an arrest. The police officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted on murder fees.

2 postmortem examinations ruled Floyd’s fatality a homicide, but an incorrect story rapidly emerged: that Floyd died of a drug overdose. 5 years later, in spite of ample proof showing police misbehavior eliminated Floyd, the narrative persists.

The Rise of False Narratives

Due to the fact that they attracted prevalent interest as on-line platforms incentivize inflammatory discourse, experts claimed it’s not unusual Floyd’s death and the associated 2020 objections proceed to be targets of misinformation.

When individuals of shade achieve exposure for their social movement or political demand, an initiative to delegitimize those demands promptly complies with, Kuo claimed. False information figures in by trying to “chip away” at the idea that what occurred to Floyd was unjustified or threaten the demonstration motion on the whole, she claimed.

Chauvin eliminated Floyd after authorities were contacted us to an edge food store where Floyd was suspected of using a fake $20 costs. Information reportsabout Floyd’s rap sheet– that included three medication fees, 2 theft cases, exacerbated robbery and trespassing– fueled incorrect insurance claims regarding his background.

Fueling Misinformation: Floyd’s Background

“The core through-line that emerges is the sort of long-standing, deep racist narratives around Black crime,” Rachel Kuo, a College of Wisconsin-Madison professor that studies race, social motions and technology said of the falsehoods. “And likewise the means individuals try to warrant who is or isn’t an ‘innocent sufferer.'”.

Ample evidence showed that Chauvin and police transgression were to condemn for Floyd’s death, another story quickly emerged– that Floyd died since of a medicine overdose, not because of Chauvin’s activities.

In 2021, a Minnesota court convicted Chauvin of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. When against Floyd and once against a 14-year-old in 2017, Chauvin additionally pleaded guilty to twice going against a federal criminal civil legal rights law–. The state and federal sentences, which Chauvin is serving concurrently, each exceeded two decades.

Chauvin’s Conviction and Lingering Doubts

An onlooker’s video clip showed officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for concerning nine mins as Floyd begged that he couldn’t breathe. The video footage triggered weeks of international demonstrations against cops brutality and racism. It added to a court’s murder sentence versus Chauvin and a government investigation into the authorities division.

The narrative that Floyd passed away of an overdose lingered with the entailed policeman’ criminal tests and past their sentences, partly since powerful political doubters of the racial justice movement looked for to rewrite background with incorrect cases. It was among manyfalsestatements about Floyd’s activities, his criminal background and the proteststhat followed his murder.

In 2023, adhering to a two-year examination sparked by Floyd’s fatality, the Justice Division found that the City of Minneapolis and its cops division participated in a pattern of civil rights violations, consisting of use too much force and illegal discrimination against Black and Indigenous American people.

Justice Department Investigation

2 postmortem examination reports– one carried out by Hennepin Region’s clinical examiner and one Floyd’s family bought– wrapped up Floyd’s fatality was a homicide. They directed to various reasons of death, neither record claimed he died due to the fact that of an overdose.

Chauvin’s 2021 conviction didn’t mean the end for misinformation regarding Floyd’s death. The medication overdose narrative arised once again in late 2022, as the test neared for two other law enforcement agents charged with assisting and urging second-degree murder and second-degree homicide in Floyd’s death.

He stated Floyd’s murder was a magnet for mis- and disinformation because it “fits the mold and mildew of a prominent occasion that connects into questionable, long-running political concerns,” similar to occasions such as the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School capturing and the coronavirus pandemic.

Email interview with Jeanne Theoharis, prominent teacher of political science and history at Brooklyn College of CUNY and writer of “King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life of Struggle Outside the South,” May 21, 2025.

Media and Social Media Influence

Ramesh Srinivasan, an information studies professor at the UCLA Graduate Institution of Education and Info Studies, claimed social networks algorithms don’t allow for nuanced discussions that call for detail and context– vital for efficient discussion concerning what occurred in summer season 2020.

The medicine overdose narrative multiplied combined with the October 2022release of Owens’ film regarding Floyd and the Black Lives Issue activity, entitled “The Greatest Lie Ever Before Offered: George Floyd and the Increase of BLM.” Rap artist Ye, formerly Kanye West, birded the false story in an October 2022 podcast meeting, mentioning Owens’ film.

“Marginalized groups have been prime targets of misinformation going back hundreds, also countless years,” because frauds can be weaponized to demonize, injury and additional oppress and discriminate, claimed Deen Freelon, a College of Pennsylvania Annenberg College for Communication teacher who studies digital politics with a focus on race, sex, ideology and various other identity dimensions in social media sites.

In this April 23, 2021, file picture, Damarra Atkins pays respect to George Floyd at a mural at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. 5 years given that Floyd’s murder, some proceed to push the incorrect narratives concerning his reason of fatality. A bystander’s video showed officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for regarding nine minutes as Floyd begged that he couldn’t breathe. Chauvin also pleaded guilty to two times going against a government criminal civil legal rights statute– as soon as versus Floyd and once against a 14-year-old in 2017. The autopsy ordered by Floyd’s family members concluded Floyd died of asphyxiation, or suffocation.

However, the Hennepin County postmortem examination record’s fentanyl information offered kindling for the drug overdose narrative to catch fire. When it was released on a conventional blog in August 2020, we initially fact-checked this story.

Combating Misinformation

“So it is necessary to remain attentive versus misinformation,” he claimed, “not only due to the fact that lies are naturally negative, but also since individuals who birth the injury have typically historically suffered overmuch from bias and mistreatment.”.

The Hennepin Area medical examiner’s office reported “fentanyl drunkenness” and “current methamphetamine use,” among “other substantial conditions” connected to his death, but it did not say medicines eliminated him. It claimed Floyd “experienced a cardiopulmonary apprehension while being limited by police policeman.” The postmortem examination gotten by Floyd’s household concluded Floyd died of asphyxiation, or suffocation.

Misinformation experts claimed it’s not shocking that Floyd and the 2020 objections remain a target of false portrayals years later because of the prevalent focus Floyd’s death attracted at a time when online platforms incentivize inflammatory commentary.

In October 2023, Carlson repeated the false drug overdose narrative; that X video has actually since gotten over 23.5 million views. In December 2023, Greene reshared a various Carlson video with the subtitle, “George Floyd died from a drug overdose.”.