Another video has appeared on the Internet in which a foreign celebrity allegedly advises the President of Ukraine to undergo rehabilitation in a clinic - this time it is the star of the series “Breaking Bad.” We checked again to see if it was fake.
The video spread across the RuNet in early August 2023. It shows Norris, who played DEA agent Hank Schrader in the TV series Breaking Bad, allegedly addressing Vladimir Zelensky and asks him to go to a rehab for treatment. Some viral publications recalled that actor Elijah Wood and boxer Mike Tyson had already allegedly delivered similar messages. “The Hollywood flash mob “in support” of Zelensky continues,” they're joking authors of some posts.
Posts about Norris’s appeal were posted in Telegram channels “Live broadcast"(691,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Uncle Slava"(209,000), "Putin on Telegram"(191,000), "Heavenly"(163,000), Voblya (153,000), "Bullet" (148,000), "First People's"(147,000), "Ostashko! Important"(111,000), "TalipoV 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 🅉"(91,000), "Yakov Kedmi"(80,000), "Gasparyan"(64,000), TG Team Russia (50,000) and "Coachman"(32,000). The news did not pass by the Russian media, including “Constantinople", "Channel 5", "Moscow 24", "Radio Sputnik", News.ru, "Notepad Russia" And "Ukraine.ru" The video can also be found on VKontakte (examples here, here And here), Twitter and on YouTube.
“Verified” has already examined the above-mentioned appeals allegedly issued Elijah Wood And Mike Tyson. In the case of the Lord of the Rings star, the actor allegedly posted the video on his Instagram*, after which his profile was blocked, and the tabloid TMZ wrote about it. The situation with the boxer was a little different: the Reuters agency allegedly mentioned his treatment in its video report. In our analysis, we came to the conclusion that both messages are disinformation: Wood and Tyson did not contact Zelensky, foreign publications did not write about this, and the fakes were created using real videos received through Cameo — a service for ordering personalized videos from stars.
As for Norris’ video, several versions of the recording of varying lengths are being distributed on the Internet. The earliest publication we could trace was appeared in the Telegram channel “Sheikh Tamir” (136,000 views) on August 2, 2023 at 10:21 Moscow time. "Verified" caught this channel has been spreading fakes several dozen times already.
The full video is a video allegedly from AFP, which allegedly showed Norris' Instagram stories. The actor gives the following motivational speech:
Hello, Vladimir. What's up, buddy? This is Dean Norris. Listen, they say you've been having a hard time this year, which is why you ended up getting into alcohol and drugs. Damn, it's really easy to get caught up in this. I know: I have many friends who have gone through similar things. Yes, I myself had some difficulties when I was younger. Man, I want to tell you something. You can get off this. You definitely can. You need to go to a rehab (at this moment a sign appears with a link to the Betty Ford Medical Center, aka mentioned in Wood's fake video. — Approx. ed.). The main thing you need to understand is that you are not alone. Man, this happens to a lot of people. And the good news is that many people quit. Rehabs work, man. I know it's hard. I don’t know what difficulties you are going through, but I am sure that they are difficult. But alcohol and drugs will only make things worse. So I ask from the bottom of my heart: go to rehab and try to put your life in order. Okay, man? This is important. Life flies by very quickly - there is no point in wasting years. I know you can do it. My friends did it, I did it. Come on, leave this behind, and you'll be much better off. Do me, yourself, your friends and family one favor: take this step, okay? The main thing is to start, as they say, and don't stop, so just do it, mate. I wish you all the best. I am sending rays of support. Hold on! Bye.
As in the case of Wood, Norris never mentions the name of Vladimir, whom he addresses, or Ukraine, although the account of the Ukrainian president is tagged in his stories. Moreover, the actor himself says that he does not know what difficulties the person he mentions is going through. At the same time, if you google “Dean Norris Zelensky", you can be sure that the artist has repeatedly written about the Ukrainian president on his social networks. For example, here it is fast from February 27, 2022: “I’m glad that the trolls who advise Zelensky to “take up acting” have not yet come here. Zelensky is cool.” And on March 10 of the same year, with the caption “It’s true,” Norris reposted tweet with the following content: “Morning routine: 1. Get up. 2. Check how Zelensky is doing. 3. Coffee." After this, it’s hard to imagine that the actor doesn’t know what the Ukrainian president is facing.
But what is not found in Google results for the same request is any mention of Norris’s appeal to Zelensky in the international press. In addition, such a video is not available on official media resources. AFP, among which YouTube, Facebook*, Instagram And Twitter, as well as on other social networks of the actor in Twitter And TikTok (the story is hidden in the Instagram profile after 24 hours, and highlights she's not there either). The only recording of the story went viral on the Internet - and this was with Norris’ audience of one and a half million. This allows us to claim that the actor never posted such a video on his social networks, and the story was fabricated.
In some posts, such as in the Telegram channel "Pool N3"(65,000 views), Norris' video was called a deepfake, but "Verified" is confident that the video is genuine again. On the actor's page on the Cameo website published There are a lot of videos with reviews, and you can be sure that he filmed some of the requests against the backdrop of the same interior that is visible in the viral recording. “Verified” also sent a request to the press service of the acting studio N-Pac (Norris Performing Arts Center), owned by Dean Norris and run by his wife Bridget. We asked if the actor was referring to Zelensky when he recorded his video and received the following response: “This is completely fake, Dean has never said anything [like that] about President Zelensky on social media or on Cameo.”
Thus, Norris' fake appeal is a combination of methods already used in two previous fakes: a fake story (as in the case of Wood) and a fabricated video from a foreign news agency (as was the case with Tyson). It is curious that if the authors of the fake ordered Norris’ address after July 1, then the video cost them $199, since then the actor announced about the summer discount (previously it took $399). This cheaper fakes with Wood, but more expensive than the video with Tyson, which cost for free.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Instagram and Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover Photo: AMC/ kinopoisk.ru
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