By Hazel Gandhi
A digitally altered video purporting to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy belly dancing in a red costume is viral online. BOOM found that the video is a deepfake and the original video shows an unidentified man dancing.
Before entering politics, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was an entertainer, and has appeared in several movies and dance shows, including the Ukrainian version of Dancing With The Stars.
A video purporting to show him dancing in a red outfit is viral online with the caption, "This is the problem with democracy. The oligarchs can pick any clown - like Zelensky or Milei - and get him elected with the right kind of marketing. Zelensky will be remembered as the last leader of Ukraine."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
A caption on Facebook reads, "Zelensky's dance for the New Year!"
Click here to view the post.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the video has been created using deepfake technology and the original video shows an unidentified man dancing.
We ran a reverse image search of some keyframes from the viral video on Google and found a YouTube video that carried visuals similar to the viral video. The video was shared on December 1, 2020 and carried a Russian caption.
The portion of the video from 0:00-0:16 matched the viral video and showed an unidentified man dancing, not Zelenskyy.
Below is a comparison between the viral video and the original video:
We also found a longer version of the video shared on Instagram on February 7, 2022 on a page called @gamgam.tv
BOOM could not independently verify when and where the video was shot, but it is at least as old as 2020 and does not show President Zelenskyy.
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