Don’t believe in the Montana town ‘pedophile bonfire’ news; its satire

A Montana town’s "pedophile bonfire" sounds like a headline-making event, but it isn’t in the state’s local news. There is a good reason for that: It isn’t real.

After the House Oversight Committee’s Nov. 12 release of about 20,000 pages of documents involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, social media users speculated about the files’ mentions of President Donald Trump. It was in that context that social media users spread news of disappointed former Trump supporters staging a fiery small-town demonstration..

"BREAKING: A Montana town that voted 89% for Donald Trump a year ago is holding a ‘Pedophile Bonfire’ event in their public park tonight for anyone who wants to come burn their Trump flags and MAGA hats," read a Nov. 15 X post by left-leaning commentator Brian Krassenstein. It attracted 918.2K views as of Nov. 21.

Other liberal influencers and groups shared the same claim on Facebook and Instagram. 

But this faux memorabilia-burning demonstration news originated Nov. 13 from a satirical X account and website called The Halfway Post, which describes itself as posting "halfway true comedy and satire." 

There are no credible news reports from Montana, which supported Trump in 2024, about such a bonfire. 

Although we found some social media videos and news stories showing people burning MAGA hats in response to the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files in recent months and weeks, we did not find news of a bonfire.

We rate the claim that a Montana town held a "pedophile bonfire" in a public park in November to burn Trump merchandise Pants on Fire!