Editing Columbine High School massacre (section)

=== Conspiracy theories and misinformation ===
In the immediate aftermath, [[conspiracy theories]] and [[Misinformation|unfounded claims]] were made by several anti-government movements and extremist religious and political movements, such as the [[Westboro Baptist Church]] and televangelist [[Jerry Falwell Sr.]]

Westboro's founder and then-leader, [[Fred Phelps]], unfoundedly claimed that both Harris and Klebold were gay, saying: "Two filthy fags slaughtered 13 people at Columbine High."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cullen |first1=Dave |author1-link=Dave Cullen |title=Gay leaders fear Littleton backlash |url=https://www.salon.com/1999/04/27/gay/ |access-date=20 January 2022 |work=[[Salon.com]] |date=27 April 1999}}</ref>{{sfn|Watson|2003|p=90}} Falwell also claimed that Harris and Klebold were gay, though he retracted afterward.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Klein |first1=Jessie |title=The Bully Society: School Shootings and the Crisis of Bullying in America's Schools |date=2013 |publisher=[[New York University Press]] |location=[[New York City]] |isbn=978-1-4798-6094-4 |page=89 |edition=Volume 6}}</ref>

Conspiracy theories also arose from [[Gun politics in the United States|anti-gun control]] activists and extremists, claiming that the massacre had either been staged or that both Harris and Klebold had been government agents, aiming at promoting tougher gun control legislation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Knight |first1=Peter |title=Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia, Volumen1 |date=2003 |publisher=[[ABC-Clio]] |location=[[Santa Barbara, California]] |isbn=978-1-57607-812-9 |page=486 |edition=Volume 1}}</ref> Other conspiracy theories point to a mysterious third shooter that has never been identified.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Marshall Bender |first1=Stuart |title=Legacies of the Degraded Image in Violent Digital Media |date=2017 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |location=New York City |isbn=978-3-319-64459-2 |page=48}}</ref>

Other [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] conspiracy theories pointed to the massacre being a [[Antisemitic canard|Jewish conspiracy]], due to Klebold's mother being Jewish.{{sfn|Larkin|2007|p=14}}

Political commentator and conspiracy theorist [[Alex Jones]] once implied that the US government had "perpetrated" Columbine,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hobfoll |first1=Steven E. |title=Tribalism: The Evolutionary Origins of Fear Politics |date=2018 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |location=New York City |isbn=978-3-319-78405-2 |page=187}}</ref> and has claimed that "the Columbine school shootings were 100 percent false flag".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sykes |first1=Charlie |title=Alex Jones' very bad week exposes a toxic conservative evolution |url=https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/alex-jones-net-worth-plummeting-trump-you-watching-n1297748 |access-date=11 August 2022 |work=MSNBC |date=6 August 2022}}</ref>