Video of cameraman in tears falsely linked to fiery Trump-Zelensky spat
"Trump meets Zelensky in the White House, while a Ukrainian photographer watches with tears in his eyes as his country's leader is humiliated by those two in the White House," reads a Weibo post shared on March 1, 2025.
Image
Screenshot of the false Weibo post, captured on March 7, 2025
The same video was also shared hundreds of times elsewhere on Weibo, X, Facebook, TikTok and Douyin.
Image
Screenshot of posts sharing the false claim on Douyin, captured on March 7, 2025
It surfaced days after Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelensky openly argued in the White House on February 28 (archived link).
Ukrainian officials voiced support for their president after the spat, with Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov praising Zelensky's "bravery" in "standing up for the honour of our people, who have paid with their blood for freedom" (archived link).
Since Trump's dressing down of Zelensky, Washington has suspended military aid to Ukraine as well as intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery in a bid to force it to the negotiating table.
But the false video was actually taken from an unrelated TV show.
A reverse image search found a clip uploaded by the Turkish newspaper Star on January 11, 2016 showing the same cameraman (archived link).
Image
Screenshot comparisons of the images falsely shared on social media (left) and the video clip uploaded by Turkish public channel TRT1 in 2016 (right)
clip's Turkish-language description states it was taken from an episode of the TV show "What Would You Do if It Was You" aired in 2016 on the TRT1 channel in Turkey (archived links here and here).
The show was hosted by cinema and theatre artist Altan Erkekli and documented reactions of passers-by to mock-up scenarios.
The episode showed a woman defending an actress portraying a homeless person that is "bullied" by another actor, and that such sensitivity "even made the cameraman, who knew the event was a set-up, cry".
The same clip was also released by the Turkish newspapers Sabah and Aksam (archived links here and here).
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
European stocks rise as Trump tariffs are temporarily reinstated
A Federal appeals court temporarily blocked a ruling from the Court of International Trade that barred most of the Trump administration's sweeping tariffs on global trading partners. The legal development reignited uncertainty, sparking renewed sell-offs in US stock markets. However, European markets rose on Friday despite the reinstatement. The decision provides the White House with additional time to defend the legality of the president's efforts to reshape global trade relations. Federal officials signalled that the same level of import levies could be reintroduced under alternative legal authorities, although enacting tariffs via other sections of the Trade Act could take several months. 'I can assure the American people that the Trump tariff agenda is alive, well, healthy and will be implemented to protect you, to save your jobs and your factories, and to stop shipping foreign wealth — our wealth — into foreign hands,' Peter Navarro, Trump's top trade adviser, said on Thursday. Trump had invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose the so-called reciprocal tariffs announced in early April. However, on Wednesday, the trade court ruled that the president does not have the authority to impose such broad levies under the IEEPA. 'America cannot function if President Trump — or any other president, for that matter — has their sensitive diplomatic or trade negotiations railroaded by activist judges,' said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. 'Ultimately, the Supreme Court must put an end to this for the sake of our Constitution and our country.' The US stock markets initially jumped on the original court ruling, alongside positive quarterly earnings results from Nvidia. However, major indices gave up early gains despite a higher close on Thursday. During Friday's Asian session, US stock futures continued to fall as risk-off sentiment prevailed. As of 4 am CEST, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.08%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures both declined 0.26%. European markets, however, were higher on Friday with the Euro Stoxx 50 up 0.54%, Germany's DAX up 0.95% and France's CAC 40 rising 0.32% by 13:30 CEST. Investors will be closely watching the progress of US-EU trade talks, though the legal battle surrounding the Trump administration's tariffs is adding complexity to the outlook. Asian equity markets traded mostly lower on Friday morning. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.4%, Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.39%, and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.61%. Australia's ASX 200 was flat as of 3:10 am CEST. The latest court developments have once again dented investor confidence in US assets, particularly the dollar. Yields on US government bonds initially jumped to 4.5% but later pulled back to 4.42% as Treasury prices came under renewed pressure. Meanwhile, haven assets have rallied. Gold jumped, and the euro, the Swiss franc, and the Japanese yen all strengthened significantly. The euro rebounded sharply from an intraday low against the dollar on Thursday after the tariff ruling was paused. The EUR/USD pair fell as low as 1.1210 before surging to 1.1353 as of 3:11 am CEST on Friday. Gold futures also swung higher, climbing to $3,321 per ounce from an intraday low of $3,269 on Thursday.
Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
Destruction across Kharkiv after wave of Russian attacks, Ukraine says
At least 11 people, including two children, have been injured in Ukraine after a wave of missile and drone strikes hit the city of Kharkiv and the nearby region, officials have said. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES) reported widespread destruction and that shelling ignited a major fire at a municipal transport company. A building and a trolleybus were destroyed by fire. The blaze extended to nearby vehicles and residential buildings, injuring three people, officials said. The Chuhuiv district suffered extensive damage from a combination of missile and drone strikes. A private residence, farm structures, a warehouse and agricultural equipment were all hit, with eight people reportedly injured. Also overnight, a series of Russian drone attacks on the Odesa region destroyed a branch of postal operator Nova Poshta, the SES said. Nobody was injured in the attacks, which triggered a fire covering some 300 square metres and damaged a number of lorries within the facility. The fire has since been extinguished. According to news reports, Nova Poshta is the country's largest private postal operator. One of the company's cargo facilities in the Odesa region was previously targeted by Russian attacks. Ukraine says it repelled a total of 173 Russian attacks over multiple fronts in Russia's Kursk Oblast region overnight. The fiercest fighting was in Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian forces halted 66 assaults. Russian strikes on Ukraine have intensified recently despite efforts towards peace talks between the two countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far refused to meet face-to-face with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and has rejected all ceasefire proposals. After negotiations in Istanbul this month, each side released more than 1,000 prisoners — soldiers and civilians — in the biggest swap of the war and are set to meet again for peace talks next week.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Turkey proposes to host Trump-Putin-Zelensky summit
Moscow said it was sending a team of negotiators to Istanbul for a second round of direct talks with Ukraine on Monday -- though Kyiv has yet to confirm if it will attend. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has fostered warm relations with both Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, has become a key mediator amid Donald Trump's push for a deal to end the over three-year war. "We sincerely think that it is possible to cap the first and second direct Istanbul talks with a meeting between Mr. Trump, Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky, under the direction of Mr. Erdogan," Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during a visit to Kyiv. The Kremlin pushed back against the idea of a face-to-face meeting involving Putin and Zelensky. "First, results must be achieved through direct negotiations between the two countries," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Fidan met Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga in Kyiv and was due to meet Zelensky later in the day. He held talks with Putin in Moscow earlier this week. Ukraine has said it is open to further negotiations, but has not confirmed it will be in Istanbul on Monday. At talks in Istanbul on May 16 -- the first in over three years -- the sides agree to swap documents outlining possible roadmaps to peace. The Kremlin repeated Friday that it would hand over its version at the talks on Monday, but Kyiv is pressuring Moscow to send a copy in advance. 'Disregard for diplomacy' Ukraine has for more than two months been urging Russia to agree to a full, unconditional and immediate 30-day ceasefire -- an idea first proposed by Trump. Putin has repeatedly rejected those calls, despite pressure from Washington and Europe, while the Russian army has intensified its advances in eastern Ukraine. He has said that a ceasefire is possible as a result of negotiations, but that talks should focus on the "root causes" of the war. Moscow typically uses that language to refer to a mix of sweeping demands that have at times included limiting Ukraine's military, banning it from joining NATO, massive territorial concessions and the toppling of Zelensky. Kyiv and the West have rejected those calls and cast Russia's assault as nothing but an imperial-style land grab. Russia's invasion in February 2022 triggered the biggest European conflict since World War II. Tens of thousands have been killed, swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine destroyed and millions forced to flee their homes. Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated at both Zelensky and Putin for not having struck a deal yet. At a UN Security Council meeting Thursday a US diplomat reaffirmed that Washington could pull back from peace efforts if it does not see progress soon. Despite the sides having held their first peace talks in more than three years, there has been little sign of movement towards a possible compromise agreement. At the talks earlier in May, Ukraine said Russia threatened to accelerate its ground offensive into new regions and made a host of maximalist demands, including that Kyiv cede territory still under its control. Along with its European allies, Ukraine has been ramping up pressure on Trump to hit Moscow with fresh sanctions -- a step he has so far not taken. "Talks of pauses in pressure or easing of sanctions are perceived in Moscow as a political victory –- and only encourage further attacks and continued disregard for diplomacy," Zelensky said Friday on social media. Russia has meanwhile been pressing its advance on the battlefield, with its forces on Friday claiming to have captured another village in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
