Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen breaks down after her party loses in the 2024 elections.
Fact
No, the video actually shows Le Pen laughing during a radio show in March 2017
Several social media users are circulating a video, claiming it shows France’s far-right leader, Marine Le Pen in tears after the election results, which saw left-wing alliance, New Popular Front, gain the largest share of votes, while her party, National Rally, came in third. The users further claimed that India was close to such a situation last month, pointing to the the Lok Sabha election results that saw BJP returning for a third term with reduced strength, stating, “We were saved by a whisker on June 4th, otherwise the power-hungry party Congress would have won with the help of peacefuls.”
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Fact Check
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to this Youtube video, dated October 9, 2021, uploaded by France-based radio station Europe 1. “When Marine Le Pen cried out in front of the imitations of Nicolas Canteloup,” read the headline, translated from French, while the description stated that Le Pen reacted to Canteloup’s imitation of television presenter Jean-Jacques Bourdin during Thomas Sotto’s morning show.
The viral excerpts can be seen at the 11:19 and 12:00 marks, where you can see that they have been stitched together and the sound replaced to give the impression that Le Pen was crying, when instead she was laughing so hard that tears came from her eyes.
We learnt that Canteloup is a famous French impressionist and that the incident happened during Le Pen’s appearance as a guest on Europe 1’s morning show with Sotto in March 2017, when the impressionist was imitating Bourdin. A similar report can be seen here.
Also Read: Old Photo Of New UK PM Keir Starmer Getting Knighted Shared As Recent
Conclusion
Old video of Marine Le Pen laughing during an interview with a radio station falsely claimed as the French far-right leader crying after her party lost in the elections.
Result: False
Source
Youtube video, Europe 1, October 9, 2021
TF1 Info report, March 28, 2017
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
