This is a photo of a Philadelphia musician, not Beto O’Rourke

We’ve debunked claims that this photo shows Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke with El Chapo and that this one shows him nearly nude with words like "atheist" and "slut" on his body.

Perhaps you’ve already guessed how a fact-check of this photo is going to end. 

An image of a man with a wet mark on the front of his pants was shared on Facebook on Sept. 21 with this text: "BETO ‘Robert Francis’ O’Rourke in college drunk and pissing his pants. He wants to be your president in 2020."

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

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stated on October 29, 2024 in a Threads post

Video shows people “marching in Puerto Rico” after former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.

That’s because as publications like Vice, Billboard and Yahoo have reported, it’s not O’Rourke but Philadelphia songwriter (Sandy) Alex G. The image was posted on Reddit in a subreddit "to discuss the creative genius that is Sandy Alex G" in August 2017. More recently, the musician seemed to have some fun with the mistaken identity, posting an image of another, similar Facebook post on his Instagram on Sept. 18.

"After listening to your latest album I’d say you’re pretty deserving of the presidency," one fan commented. 

FactCheck.org spoke to (Sandy) Alex G, whose real name is Alexander Giannascoli, and he said the photo was taken backstage at a show in New York City in 2017 after he spilled a beer on his pants. 

We rate this Facebook post Pants on Fire!