Recently, the cover of the satirical magazine Eulenspiegel with a cartoon ridiculing the 2024 Olympic Games, where, the artist is sure, there will be a “tug of war” between LGBT representatives and Ukrainians, went viral on Telegram. We have verified the authenticity of the image.
January 30, 2023 in the Telegram channel of radio host Armen Gasparyan (more than 80,000 views at the time of writing this text) appeared this text, supposedly sent by one of the subscribers: “The German Eulenspiegel then remembered that the Olympics are coming soon. "A new sport. Drag the Olympics. Sport outside of politics? Lies." They say that at the Olympics there will be only one competition - who is more important: the farmers or the Tridvaras. That's a tough choice. There are two chairs...” The viral picture shows the Olympic rings being pulled in different directions by two groups of people, causing the symbol of the Olympics to begin to crack. According to the author’s idea, stereotypical representatives of the LGBT community are depicted on top, and residents of Ukraine on the bottom, which is understandable from the national symbols.
Publications about this cover appeared in the channels "Zl⭕y proof️"(130,000 views), "The Countess runs to the pond with a changed face" (27,000), "Teledno"(22,000), "Slovensko News-Front.info" (18,000), "Brother for brother" (11,000), "Avdeevka.ru" (8300), "Yakemenko" (8000), "Vzwater" (6800), "Conflict 🔥 Z" (4900) and "Shkvarka News"(3800), on VKontakte (examples here, here, here And here), Twitter (here, here And here), as well as on some websites, including "I cried" And other.
The viral cover states that this is the third issue for 2023 (03/2023). However, “Verified” did not find this image on Eulenspiegel’s social networks (Twitter, Facebook*, Instagram*), nor in gallery covers on the official website publications It is also absent in section special issues. Latest issues of the magazine come out once a month. First issue for 2023 came out back at the end of December 2022, second issue appeared on sale January 25, 2023. Accordingly, the third magazine was published February 22. The cover of the third issue published on the website is dedicated not to the Olympic Games, but to the construction of highways.
In addition, on the viral cover the third number is indicated as 03/2023, although previously such numbering was used only on the website, and on official covers it was without a zero at the beginning of the number. Accordingly, the first number says 1/2023, the second says 2/2023, and the official third says 3/2023.
“Verified” sent a request to the magazine’s editors asking for comment on the cover with a caricature of representatives of the LGBT community and Ukrainians. According to the editor Andreas Koristka, who responded back on February 8, the viral image was faked: “This cover is fake. We have not published our number 03/2023 yet.” We also wrote to the artist Thomas Kuhlenbeck, whose name is signed on the cartoon with the Olympic rings, he also denied his involvement in the drawing: “I did not draw this cover. Although it has my signature on it, which is strange.”
We found the earliest publication with a fake cover in the Telegram channel “Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation"(14,000 views), where the post containing it was published on January 30, 2023 at 12:11 Moscow time. This channel can rightfully be called a launching pad for the distribution of fake covers, because he already repeatedly was becoming their primary source.
The authors of such propaganda fakes often touch upon the topic of LGBT people. For example, “Verified” recently dismantled a falsified reportage Polish TV channel TVP about Poland's plans to create a military unit from representatives of sexual minorities. In December 2022, another fake appeared, related to both LGBT and the Olympics: then the fabricated video Euronews TV channel about the plans of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to introduce a quota of at least 10% for athletes from the LGBT community.
Probably, the reason for creating the fake Eulenspiegel cover was the discussions surrounding the admission of athletes from Russia and Belarus to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. 26 January Reuters reportedthat the IOC seeks to invite Russian and Belarusian athletes to the competition as neutral participants. The Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine spoke out against this decision Vadim Gutzeit, as well as the president of the country Vladimir Zelensky. February 21 representatives of 35 countries released a joint statement calling on the IOC not to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete, even under a neutral flag, until the organization develops a clear and transparent scheme for obtaining the appropriate status, especially in conditions where many athletes from the two countries are directly funded by governments and/or associated with paramilitary structures.
*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: social networks
Fake
- Is it true that the Russian team was 12 days late for the 1908 Olympics due to a difference in calendars?
- Is it true that in 1952 a separate Olympic village was built for the Soviet delegation?
- Is the story about Luxembourg's anthem at the 1952 Olympics true?
- Is it true that each Olympic ring corresponds to a certain part of the world?
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