In this text, we checked the authenticity of three covers of satirical magazines: French Charlie Hebdo and Spanish El Jueves - with caricatures of Vladimir Zelensky, Andrzej Duda and Ukrainians at the World Cup in Qatar. All of them have spread quite widely on the Internet.
El Jueves
At the end of November 2022, an alleged cover of the Spanish magazine El Jueves went viral on social networks and Telegram channels. How approved in numerous publications, the cartoon depicts the wetted President of Poland Andrzej Duda, holding a passerby and telling him: “Emmanuel, I don’t want a war with Russia! I don’t want war with Russia!” To this the person replies: “How long can I tell you? I'm not Emmanuel!
The plot of this drawing is based on the prank of the Russian duo of pranksters - Vovan and Lexus (they can even be seen in the background of the cartoon). They are known for calling celebrities, politicians and public figures while pretending to be other people. So, November 22 Vovan and Lexus statedthat they were able to get through to Duda on behalf of French President Emmanuel Macron on the day of the rocket fall in the Polish village of Przewodow near the border with Ukraine. Recording a conversation published on the Rutube channel of pranksters. Apparently, the author of the cover referred to this phrase heard in the video: “Emmanuel, do you think I want to fight with Russia? No. Believe me, I don't want this. I don’t want a war with Russia, and I’m extremely careful, believe me. I'm extremely careful." Later the office of the Polish President confirmedthat Duda spoke with an unknown person who introduced himself as Macron. The statement noted that the president guessed about the prank “by the unusual manner of conversation of the interlocutor” and ended the call.
A viral cover allegedly from the Spaniards appeared in the Telegram channels themselves Vovan and Lexus (89,000 views, and this is the second post, since the first was deleted), TV presenters Vladimir Solovyov (402,000) and Ruslana Ostashko (119,000), transmissions "News" (48,000), as well as "Scott Ritter on Telegram"(204,000), "Bullet"(188,000), "Pool N3" (128,000), "Ramzan Kadyrov Sexton war"(117,000), "Sexton"(98,000), "Ukraine.ru"(90,000), "Russian format"(71,000), "Denazification UA"(66,000), "News.RF" (55,000), "Rogandar News"(49,000), "Kornilov" (37,000), "Nose" (23,000) and "Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation"(12,000). Publications with covers are posted on VKontakte (for example, in verified publics “Pranksters Vovan and Lexus", "TV channel 360 and Onufrienko" And "News") And Twitter.
On the viral cover, right under the magazine's name, the issue number (2375) and the phrase Año XLV (“45th year [of the magazine’s existence]”) are indicated, that is, this is supposedly a magazine for 2022. We checked card index covers on the official website of El Jueves, but did not find such a caricature of Duda there. On the contrary, on the site under number 2375 a completely different cover is indicated, dedicated saving electricity. We also checked the official accounts of the magazine in Twitter, Facebook* And Instagram* — the viral cover was not placed there either.
The earliest publication that we know of appeared in a Russian-language Telegram channel called “Putin on Telegram” (930,000 subscribers) - there is a fake cover of El Jueves posted November 24, 2022 at 12:18 Moscow time. It is noteworthy that, according to the TGStat service, this post was deleted within a minute. Probably, during this time they still managed to copy it, since in subsequent publications from other channels retained the original typo, namely a space before the comma. Please note that the “Putin on Telegram” channel is already was becoming the purported source of another fabricated El Jueves cover.
Charlie Hebdo
The very next day, November 25, 2022, netizens circulated the alleged cover of the famous French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. According to online publications, his title cartoon was dedicated to an event that allegedly happened at the 2022 FIFA World Cup with the participation of Ukrainians. “Three drunken idiots defaced Laib posters in Doha, drew a Hitler mustache on the World Cup symbol and wrote “Sieg Heil”,” they say numerous posts. It is this plot that is shown in the background of the picture (only two Ukrainian fans are depicted). In the foreground, apparently, two Qatari police officers with an Arabic-Ukrainian phrasebook, and one of them says: “This is something in Ukrainian.” Author of one of the publications indicates, that “Ukraine has earned itself a reinforced concrete reputation in the world as modern Hitlerites.”
The news about this cover of a “special issue on the adventures of Ukrainian Nazis” appeared in the Telegram channels “Special Operation Z"(93,000 views), Putin TG Team (85,000), "What's going on?"(85,000), Russia Live (70,000), "Ukraine.ru" (55,000), "7 Days news"(22,000), "Brecotin"(21,000), "Lev Sharansky"(16,000), etc., as well as on VKontakte (examples here, here And here) and Twitter (here, here And here).
Let's start with the fact that the incident with the mascot of the 2022 World Cup we have already sorted it out and came to the conclusion that this story is fake. We could not find any evidence in authoritative sources of acts of vandalism in Qatar allegedly committed by fans from Ukraine. The video, cited online as evidence, was presented as a report from the local Al Jazeera television channel, although the editors of this media outlet denied involvement in the creation of the video. In addition, it turned out that the entry was compiled from materials of other authors, including those published in 2019 and 2013.
This begs the question: Could the editors and cartoonist at Charlie Hebdo believe the fake video and create a cover based on it?
We checked verified Charlie Hebdo accounts in Twitter, Facebook And Instagram, and also card index covers on the official website of the French publication, but on none of these resources could they find a caricature with Ukrainians in Qatar. If you carefully examine the viral cover, you will notice several details that will make it easy to determine its authenticity. First, in the upper left corner it states that this is journal number 1584 for November 24, 2022. At the same time, the website does not show the issue for November 24 (Thursday), but there is an issue for November 23 (No. 1583). Since Charlie Hebdo is a weekly magazine published on Wednesdays, the next magazine was published only on November 30, exactly under the number No. 1584, only the cartoon on its cover has nothing to do with the 2022 World Cup. On the same covers that are actually dedicated to Qatar, there are no Ukrainians.
Secondly, under the name of the magazine there is a sign stating that this is a special issue (numéro spécial). However, according to archive covers, last issue with a similar logo went out back on June 1, 2022, and it was number 101 (1H). Please note that the site actually available special issue No. 2H for November-December, the cover of which is dedicated to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but it is designed differently, and there are neither Ukrainians nor the championship mascot in the cartoon.
Thirdly, on the right side of the caricature with Ukrainian fans is the artist’s signature (Juin). But if you believe the official website, his work last appeared on the cover of the September 21, 2022 issue 1574.
Fourth, the viral image shows a barcode with a digital designation that begins like this: 17158. In reality, all standard Charlie Hebdo magazines (at least for the last couple of years) have 14057 written above the barcode, and special editions have 17148.
And again Charlie Hebdo
The new cover of this magazine on the theme of Ukraine began circulating on the Internet at the end of December 2022. This time, the title cartoon dedicated to Catholic Christmas depicted Vladimir Zelensky running away with the gifts of the Magi. ""Don't whine. We need it more!" The Magi are in shock, the gifts to Jesus have been stolen,” it says in one of the publications.
This picture also went viral on VKontakte (for example, here, here, here And here), Twitter (here, here And here) and Telegram in channels "Russia now"(310,000 views), "Bullet" (172,000), "Mriya"(161,000), Voblya (145,000), "Sheikh Tamir" (128,000), "Ukraine.ru"(123,000), "Polite people of SVO"(72,000) and Swiss vatnik (11,000). In addition, the news about the cover with Zelensky stealing Christmas appeared on the channel's social networks NTV, as well as in the TV presenter’s Telegram channels Ruslana Ostashko, radio host Armen Gasparyan and State Duma deputy Sergei Mironov.
Since this cover is also missing on the website and the main social networks of the publication (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), we will analyze it using the algorithm presented above. So, in the upper left corner there is the issue number (1588) and the date (December 22, 2022, that is, Thursday). Since Charlie Hebdo is published weekly on Wednesdays, the latest episodes are currently specified on the publication's website - No. 1587 for December 21 and No. 1588 for December 28. The cover of the official issue 1588 does not depict Zelensky, Jesus, or the Magi. In addition, a magazine with a viral cover is also marked as a special issue (numéro spécial). However, as we wrote above, the last time a release with such a die went out June 1, 2022, and special issue for November-December has different design. Among other things, the barcode number on the Zelensky cover is again different from what Charlie Hebdo should have.
It is difficult to determine the exact original source of both Charlie Hebdo covers, however, according to our data, the earliest publications with them were in the Russian-language Telegram channel “Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation." So, the cover with the Ukrainians at the 2022 World Cup was placed there November 25 at 11:28 Moscow time (12,000 views), and a caricature of Zelensky - December 22 at 11:55 Moscow time (12,000). Let us remind you that this channel is frequent guest our analyzes, and earlier in it already distributed fake magazine covers, including Charlie Hebdo.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: collage “Verified” / social networks
Fake
- Is it true that Ukrainians in Qatar painted a Hitler mustache on the 2022 World Cup mascot?
- Is it true that the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry admitted Kyiv’s involvement in the bombing of the Crimean Bridge?
- Is it true that foreign magazines published these covers dedicated to Zelensky and Ukraine?
- Is it true that foreign satirical magazines published these covers dedicated to the words of the Pope about the Chechens and Buryats?
- Is it true that the German magazine Titanic released a cover with Zelensky in the form of a black hole absorbing money and weapons?
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