Did rob reiner comment on trump shooting at butler
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
No credible reporting or fact‑checks show Rob Reiner ever said he wished the would‑be assassin “hadn’t missed” when an attacker fired at Donald Trump in Butler in 2024; a Lead Stories‑sourced fact check found the claim “nonsense” and could locate no evidence Reiner made such a statement [1]. By contrast, multiple outlets document that Reiner publicly condemned political violence and that the viral quote emerged on social media and was amplified without sourcing [2] [3].
1. What the claim says and where it circulated
The contested assertion — that Rob Reiner said he wished the Butler shooter had not missed Trump — circulated online as a meme and posts shared to bolster criticism of those defending President Trump’s later public comments about Reiner’s murder; outlets picking up the story flagged the viral post and traced it back to anonymous social posts rather than a verifiable interview or statement from Reiner [1].
2. Fact‑check and family response: no evidence Reiner said it
A targeted fact‑check, summarized by Yahoo!/Lead Stories, reported that a source close to Reiner’s family called the claim “nonsense” and that investigators of the claim “found no evidence” Reiner ever expressed a wish that the Butler gunman had succeeded — an explicit refutation that is the strongest documentary answer available in current reporting [1].
3. Reiner’s recorded stance on political violence — the public record
Reiner’s documented public record, as reported by People, PBS and other outlets, shows him consistently condemning political violence; for example, his past comments criticizing the murder of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk and his general anti‑violence stance have been highlighted and resurfaced amid the current controversy, which undercuts the plausibility of the viral quote [2] [4].
4. Why the claim spread: motive, context and misinformation dynamics
The claim’s spread appears tied to partisan combat over President Trump’s later indictment and inflammatory social posts about Reiner after his murder; outlets including PBS and AP note how rapidly assertions circulate in political echo chambers and how both sides use isolated lines to score points — in this case, the unverified statement was weaponized to portray Reiner as celebratory of political assassination, despite no sourcing [5] [6].
5. Alternative viewpoints and evidentiary limits
Some social‑media users and partisan sites continue to repeat the claim, and that repetition can create an impression of reporting that does not exist in primary sources; the reporting available does not prove Reiner never uttered such a remark in an obscure forum, but journalists and a family source who were asked say there’s no evidence he did, and major fact‑checkers report they could not find any original sourcing to substantiate the quote [1].
6. Bottom line: the direct answer and how to read ongoing reporting
The direct answer: no—current, attributable reporting and a fact‑check find no evidence Rob Reiner commented that the Butler shooter “hadn’t missed,” and a family‑linked source called that claim nonsense [1]; readers should treat unsourced social posts repeating the alleged quote as unverified and weigh them against Reiner’s documented condemnations of political violence and the journalistic fact‑checks that refute the meme [2] [3].