Is the image of a man dressed in a pink dress wearing a gold crown a real photo of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old man shot and killed by federal agents in Minnesota? No, that's not true: The person shown wearing the pink dress is an altered image of Ben Taylor, a comedian who appeared on the reality show Fishtank. The image does not show Pretti.
The claim appeared in a January 25, 2026, post on X.com account @0hour1 (archived here). It opened:
He was a nurse ......
This is what the image looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com/@0Hour1.)
The implication of the post is that the man is Pretti, an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse who was shot and killed by federal agents on a Minneapolis street Jan. 24, 2026, as the New York Times reported (archived here). The image is not of Pretti, age 37, who worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in Minneapolis.
The person in the image is Ben Taylor, the co-creator of the Fishtank reality show, according to Fishtank.live.fandom. The pink dress and gold crown were digitally added to the image. The staircase in the image is from the house in Season 2 of the reality show Fishtank. The staircase, with identical door, floor and doormat, can be seen at 5:13 in this YouTube video (archived here) from the show, as this screenshot shows:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of YouTube.com/@anon.)
The Fishtank X.com account @fishtankislive reposted the image with a joke message that read, "Ben bravely stood up to the injustice in Minnesota and paid the ultimate price. He will not be joining us for season 5. Please respect our privacy during this time of grieving." This screenshot shows the tweet:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com/fishtankislive/status/2015728938190880836.)
