Claim:
An image authentically shows a vandalized Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway sign in Lake County, Florida.
Rating:
Rating: Fake
A rumor that circulated online in October 2025 claimed an image showed a vandalized Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway sign in Lake County, Florida.
According to a oft-shared image, the photo showed black and red spray-painted writing on a genuine sign reading, “Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway. Designated by: 2025 Lake Board of County Commissioners.” The sign referenced slain conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, who died at age 31 on Sept. 10 after being shot in the neck during an event at Utah Valley University.
For example, on Oct. 7, conservative commentator and comedian Terrence K. Williams — who has supported U.S. President Donald Trump and shared stories about his friendship with Kirk — posted (archived), “It is being reported that after just 48 hours since the sign went up for the Charlie Kirk memorial highway, vandals have already gotten to and spray painted over the sign…” The post featured an image allegedly showing the vandalized sign, as well as a small image of a purported X post from a user named @Joannepatriotx. That supposed post read, “Less than 48 hours after the install of the Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway sign, it has already been vandalised. What on earth has this world come too…” The word “Cassy” appeared in very small, cursive writing just above the @Joannepatriotx post image.
(Terrence K. Williams/Facebook)
Other users also shared this same rumor and image on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Reddit (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived).
An investigation of the image found the photo did not authentically depict a vandalized Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway sign. A reverse-image search for the small “Cassy” logo located an Oct. 3 post (archived) on the Cassy Legaspi Facebook page. That Facebook page, displaying the handle @GlobalMemeFeed, featured a bio alleging its content constituted satire. The bio read, “News page, not affiliated with any company, celebrity, or sportsperson. Posts are satire.”
(Cassy Legaspi/Facebook)
A user altering the image added fake spray-painted graffiti on top of a genuine photo, either with Adobe Photoshop or other image-editing tools. Also, an X search for the @Joannepatriotx user found no such user, suggesting the user who doctored the sign also created the fake X post screenshot. This animated image file compares the original picture with the doctored fake:
(Snopes Illustration)
A user managing the Cassy Legaspi Facebook page told us via Messenger that another user sent the image to them, and that they did not create the doctored image. They told us, “We are under the belief that the image was correct.” They also said they changed the handle of the user mentioned in the supposed X post for “privacy reasons.” A search for an X post with the same words yielded no results. The Cassy Legaspi post disappeared shortly after our discussion. (The page displayed as its purpose the words “media/news company,” indicating their content shared no relationship with an actor named Cassy Legaspi.)
The real Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway sign
On Oct. 1, Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini posted the original sign photo on his official Facebook (archived) and X (archived) pages, two days prior to the Cassy Legaspi post displaying the fake addition of spray-painted messages. The post displayed a text caption reading, “IT’S OFFICIAL—Our Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway signs are up! Lake County, FL is now the 1st local government in the nation to name a road after the great Charlie Kirk—every city & county in America should follow our lead.”
A popular post (archived) on the official Turning Point USA Facebook page featured a screenshot of Sabatini’s post and picture, as did a post (archived) appearing on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ X feed.
Days later, TV news station WKMG in nearby Orlando reported about the Florida Department of Transportation’s plans to install cameras to help protect the signs from vandals. The article referenced an Oct. 6 Facebook post (archived) from Sabatini, in which he alleged officials received word of threats regarding the signs and said the Florida Department of Transportation planned to install security cameras for protection. Sabatini also shared the message on X (archived), where he received a response (archived) from a user who captured a selfie in front of one of the signs.
We contacted Sabatini via email to ask about the rumor, as well as to inquire whether he received word of any genuine acts of vandalism regarding the signs, and will update this article if we receive more information.
For further reading, we previously reported about a claim alleging Kirk once stopped his car on a dark highway to help change a transgender man’s tire.
Snopes reporter Rae Deng contributed to this story.
Sources:
“Animated Gif Tools.” EZGIF.com, https://ezgif.com.
McLeod, Emily. “Security Measures Planned for Lake County’s Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway Signs.” WKMG, 8 Oct. 2025, https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2025/10/08/security-measures-planned-for-lake-countys-charlie-kirk-memorial-highway-signs/.
