False claim misspelling shows jacket on RNC stage wasn't Corey Comperatore's | Fact check

The claim: Misspelled name proves jacket on RNC stage didn’t belong to Corey Comperatore

A July 18 Threads post (direct link) includes a picture of former President Donald Trump on the Republican National Convention stage next to a firefighter's jacket with “Compertore” written on the back.

"The firefighter gear is fake… And they misspelled his name,” reads the post. It was a reference to 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was killed during the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump.

Similar claims were shared elsewhere on Threads and on X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: False

Comperatore's fire department confirmed the misspelled jacket seen on the RNC stage belonged to the slain fireman. It said the error was made several years prior to the shooting and Comperatore opted not to correct it. Photos of the jacket taken before Trump's speech also read "Compertore."

Comperatore opted not to fix misspelling, department says

At one point during Trump’s hour-and-a-half-long speech accepting his presidential nomination from the Republican Party, he approached a display honoring Comperatore and kissed a firefighter’s helmet that sat atop a jacket reading “Compertore.”

While it’s true that “Compertore" isn't the correct spelling, the late fireman's department said the jacket was indeed his.

“The spelling on his jacket was in error years ago and it was left that way by Corey,” the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department in Pennsylvania, where Comperatore worked, said in response to a Facebook comment noting the misspelling. “Corey did not change it and we will keep it as it was. I understand it may seem confusing but that was Corey’s choice to change it and he didn’t.”

Fact check: Post wrongly claims nothing hit in Trump rally shooting

The department posted a photo of a jacket reading "Compertore" in a July 14 tribute. Photos of a memorial at Comperatore’s fire station in the days after the shooting also show the misspelling.

USA TODAY has debunked an array of claims related to the Trump rally shooting, including false assertions that a video shows the shooter shouting "Slash Republican throats," that an image shows Trump playing golf after the assassination attempt and that Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas denied requests for additional security at the event.

Our fact-check sources:

• USA TODAY, July 17, A hero, a firefighter, a Trump supporter. What will Corey Comperatore’s death mean? 

• The New York Times, July 16, Widow of Slain Rally Attendee Says She Received Call From Trump 

• Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department, July 15, Facebook post 

• Butler Eagle, July 15, Community recalls slain Buffalo Township firefighter 

• Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department, July 14, Facebook post 

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Misspelling has been on Comperatore's jacket for years | Fact check