Is a viral image of a banner about Jimmy Savile a real photo from the May 16, 2026, anti-immigration rally in London? No, that's not true: Lead Stories didn't find credible news organizations that published the image as part of their rally coverage. Three online AI detectors said the picture was likely generated by AI.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published by the @bortinez_ account on X on May 16, 2026. The caption began:
Banner spotted at the Unite the Kingdom protest today. Beyond words 🤦♂️
The banner in the attached picture read:
IF JIMMY SAVILE WAS A BLACK MUSLIM NON-BINARY LESBIAN HE WOULD OF [sic] GOT AWAY WITH IT.
This is what the image in the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @bortinez_ on X.com.)
The picture spread on social media on the day of a mass anti-immigration rally (archived here) in London. Posts alleged that the image showed an authentic banner from that march.
Jimmy Savile (archived here) was a British TV host. After his death decades of sexual abuse were revealed, but, contrary to the banner's implications, he was never convicted of such crimes.
Lead Stories performed multiple reverse image searches on Google, Yandex, Bing and TinEye, but did not find credible media organizations that published the image in question.
There were several inconsistencies. It was unclear how a relatively big and seemingly heavy banner could be carried on a single thin pole by the person in the white hoodie.
One of the banner's top corners showed a bright yellow element connected to nothing and looking different from the banner's design:
(Image source: X.com.)
Furthermore, in the background, we see a man with an anatomically incorrect head:
(Image source: X.com.)
The InVID verification plugin said that the picture was 99% likely generated by AI:
(Image source: InVID.)
AI or Not concluded that the odds of the image being a product of generative AI were 95%:
(Image source: AI or Not.)
One more detection tool, Sightengine, ruled that the picture was 99% "likely AI-generated":
(Image source: Sightengine.)
