In late September 2025, a rumor spread online that antifa demonstrators “firebombed” hip-hop artist Ice Cube’s tour bus in Portland because they purportedly mistook it as belonging to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Users on social media platforms such as X (archived), Instagram (archived) and Facebook (archived) shared the claim following Ice Cube’s appearance at Portland’s Moda Center on Sept. 22 during his “Truth to Power: Four Decades of Attitude” tour. One of the vehicles on the tour caught fire the next morning. 

The rumor gained further traction as Portland entered the national conversation when U.S. President Donald Trump announced intentions to deploy troops to the city, which he claimed on Truth Social was “under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.” (Though the Trump administration has categorized antifa as a terrorist organization, experts on extremism say it is not a structured organization with central leadership but rather an ideological movement that is short for “anti-fascist.”) 

We opted not to give this rating a claim because Portland Fire and Rescue was still investigating the blaze as of this writing, but there was no evidence that any political organization, antifa or otherwise, was involved in Ice Cube’s bus fire. No credible news outlets reported on antifa involvement.

Snopes reached out to Ice Cube’s management as well as Portland Fire and Rescue for comment and will update this article if we hear back.

The rumor appeared to originate with a social media account (archived) that posted on Sept. 26, 2025, that Ice Cube’s “tour bus was bombed by Antifa after they mistook the Hip-Hop legend’s bus for ICE authorities.” We’ve contacted the account’s owner for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.

Ice Cube posted to his X account (archived) on Sept. 27 and said no one was hurt:

Wasn’t my bus. It was a crew bus. Parked in front of the hotel. Everybody was upstairs sleeping. Nobody hurt. No equipment damaged. A coward set fire to the bus. My bus was actually in Oakland getting serviced.

According to reports from the Portland TV news stations KOIN and KGW as well as The Oregonian, Ice Cube gave a statement through a spokesperson and said, “I’m not taking this incident as a personal attack. A coward like that would burn anybody’s property that was out there at the time.”

KOIN further reported that a fire department spokesperson told the station the “front passenger tire of a charter bus caught fire” but that the department “extinguished the fire and used a fan to ventilate the smoke from the bus.” 

Sources

“Donald J. Trump: “At the Request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I Am Directin…” Trump’s Truth, https://trumpstruth.org/statuses/33111. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.

Esposito, Joey. “Untangling Rumor Meta Labeled Some Threads Users as Members of ‘Antifa.'” Snopes, 26 Sep. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/antifa-threads-warning/.

“Fact Check: No Evidence Antifa Bombed Ice Cube’s Bus After They Mistook It For ICE Vehicle In Portland.” Lead Stories via Yahoo News, 28 Sep. 2025, https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fact-check-no-evidence-antifa-012038027.html.

“Ice Cube Reacts to Bus Being Firebombed.” Newsweek, 29 Sep. 2025, https://www.newsweek.com/entertainment/ice-cube-tour-bus-firebombed-portland-10796536.

Oregonian/OregonLive, Zaeem Shaikh | The. “Ice Cube’s Tour Bus Catches Fire in Downtown Portland.” Oregonlive, 26 Sep. 2025, https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2025/09/ice-cubes-tour-bus-catches-fire-in-downtown-portland.html.

“Rapper Ice Cube’s Tour Bus Catches Fire in Downtown Portland; Investigation Underway.” Kgw.Com, 25 Sep. 2025, https://www.kgw.com/article/news/crime/rapper-ice-cube-tour-bus-fire-downtown-portland/283-dc12c43f-2552-4739-bcc2-4237aac82a52.

Rose Quarter | Ice Cube. https://www.rosequarter.com/calendar-events/ice-cube-sep-22-2025. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.