Related topics

Video clip was manipulated to add anti-Biden chant

September 22, 2021 GMT

CLAIM: A video clip shows a speech in Virginia by President Joe Biden being interrupted by chants of “F--- Joe Biden.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The original video, from July, does not include those chants; the clip was altered to add that audio.

THE FACTS: When President Joe Biden spoke in July at a campaign event for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, he was interrupted by hecklers speaking out against a pipeline project.

A White House transcript shows that some audience members were yelling, “Stop line three!” — a reference to a pipeline replacement project in Minnesota opposed by environmental groups and some Ojibwe tribes.

Others in the crowd responded with yelling and chants supportive of Biden, as the president said: “That’s alright — no, no, no, no, let him talk.”

That clip is now circulating on social media with different audio, falsely suggesting Biden’s speech was interrupted by chants of “F--- Joe Biden.”

Some posts sharing the clip note that the chants were added and not part of the original video. But others do not.

In an Instagram post liked more than 6,000 times, the manipulated clip was used at the start of a video montage showing people shouting the same phrase elsewhere, primarily at sporting events.

“F Joe Biden in Virginia Speech,” reads text that appears on top of the clip in the video.

The original video of the July 23 event shows no such chants.

___

This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.