Ed Sheeran isn’t behind Charlie Kirk tribute song shared online

In September 2025, social media users shared a video (archived) claiming to show singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran’s tribute song honoring slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The video, which was widely shared on Facebook and X (archived here and here), included overlaid text that read, “Ed Sheeran’s beautiful tribute to Charlie Kirk.” 

Multiple Snopes readers also searched our website to verify the rumor.

However, we found no evidence Sheeran released a tribute song honoring Kirk. Instead, the claim appeared to have originated from YouTube channels that post AI-generated music. 

As of this writing, a search for “Charlie Kirk” on Sheeran’s YouTube channel returned no relevant results. Likewise, Sheeran didn’t make any announcements about such a tribute song for Kirk on his social media accounts. 

(Ed Sheeran on YouTube)

One of the earliest iterations of Sheeran’s supposed tribute song was posted on Sept. 13, 2025, by a YouTube channel called Ai Modiveza, which appears to have been removed from the platform entirely as of this writing. The video had also been deleted at the time of publication, but was archived here.

The archived video’s description included an “altered or synthetic content” disclosure that stated: “Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated.”

YouTube said viewers should expect to see such a disclosure in three scenarios: when creators manually disclose such content via YouTube studio, when the creator uses YouTube’s own generative AI tools, like DreamScreen, or when metadata known as Content Credentials indicates the entire video was made with AI.

Though the Ai Modiveza YouTube channel was no longer accessible, a Bing search captured a portion of its description, which read, in part, “Welcome to AI Modiveza, your ultimate hub for groundbreaking music powered by artificial intelligence.”

Other YouTube videos (archived here and here) with “altered or synthetic content” disclaimers also shared versions of fake tribute songs attributed to Sheeran. 

(Américan R3vé on YouTube)

The descriptions for those channels — American Rave and Ai Starzz (archived here and here) — also made it clear that they posted AI-generated content. 

However, the videos’ thumbnails featured the logo for Vevo, a popular music video network, which may have fooled people into believing they were real. 

(Ai Starrz on YouTube)

Other YouTube channels also posted additional AI-generated tribute songs for Kirk, falsely attributing them to musicians such as Eminem, Adele, Rihanna.

For further reading, Snopes previously reported on whether Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson pledged to financially support Kirk’s family.