In mid-June 2025, a five-second video circulated online that showed a Pride flag on the jumbotron at the New York Mets' Citi Field stadium.
Social media users claimed that this flag replaced the U.S. flag while the national anthem was being sung. Although people did not specify which game this occurred at, the rumor spread following the team's ninth annual Pride Night, celebrating LGBTQ+ fans and inclusion in baseball, on June 13, which coincided with their game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
One X user who shared the clip (archived) wrote: "BREAKING - The New York Mets have chose to display the Pride flag in place of the American flag during the national anthem."
The post had amassed more than 6 million views as of this writing. The rumor also appeared elsewhere on X.
However, other social media footage showed that the U.S. flag also appeared on the jumbotron during the national anthem. Therefore, people who claimed the Pride flag replaced the U.S. flag miscaptioned the video.
Although the U.S. flag did not appear in the five-second clip, which may have led some people to believe it had been replaced by the Pride flag, another video posted online showed that the U.S. flag also featured on the jumbotron during the national anthem.
One Instagram user posted a longer video (archived) showing the buildup to the five-second clip. In that footage, the U.S. flag could be seen on a separate screen throughout the national anthem performance and it also appeared on the main jumbotron at the 00:50 mark.
(Instagram user @cjstevens421)
Both the Instagram video and the five-second clip circulating on social media showed actor and singer Alex Newell performing the national anthem. Getty Images also featured a photo of Newell singing at the game on June 13.
Therefore, it was incorrect for social media users to claim that the Pride flag replaced the U.S. flag during the performance of the national anthem at the Mets game.
The five-second clip appeared to originate from a social media user with the handle @lisco_2000, who wrote on X (archived): "You guys I'm converting to Mets fandom bc they showed the pride flag instead of the american flag during the anthem."
Lisco_2000 said via email that they filmed the footage and that they thought the U.S. flag was shown on the jumbotron "for a few seconds before the Pride flag." They also said that the wording in their X post had been interpreted "the wrong way" by other social media users, before adding: "The way people have taken it and run with it is mind boggling!"
Elsewhere, one TikTok user who attended the Mets-Rays game posted a personal video (archived) of the event, which featured multiple U.S. flags flying on top of Citi Field stadium. The screenshot below shows the footage at 00:05.
(marisaandthebuns/ TikTok)
Snopes also reached out to the New York Mets for comment. We will update this article if they respond.