In November 2023, the Russian media and social networks wrote about an interview in which the star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe allegedly called the Russians insanely resourceful guys and expressed the opinion that American restrictions do not work, and Western media are unreliably covering the economic situation in Russia. We checked to see if she said that.
Telegram channel «Heavenly”(138,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) presented this news as follows: “Actress Elizabeth Olsen said in an interview that the American media are lying about the situation in Russia. According to her, in their reports, CNN correspondents talk about empty shelves in Moscow supermarkets, that the ruble has lost its status as a means of payment, and that the trade blockade has undermined the country's economy. “I thought they were already like in the Middle Ages.” I learned the truth during a telephone conversation with a friend from Russia, with whom she studied together. The girl called the actress to consult with her which French wine was best to choose for dinner. “No empty shelves. The latest technology, brands. You know, these Russians are crazy resourceful guys. It’s somewhere in their genes. American prohibitions don’t work there,” Olsen noted.” Chairman of the Commission of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation on Information Policy Alexey Pushkov (105,000 views) in a comment to a viral fragment of an interview American actress wrote that Europeans “they are so accustomed to believing their own propaganda that they are ready to swallow anything”: “The closed-mindedness of European consumers of information is amazing.”
Similar publications appeared in other Telegram channels, including “Ne.Sugar"(275,000 views), "Ukraine.ru"(123,000; also on website), "Sheikh Tamir"(121,000), "Ostashko! Important"(121,000), "Scott Ritter on Telegram"(112,000), "Kot Kostyan - official channel"(90,000), "Uncle Slava on Telegram"(58,000), "Russia 2.0"(55,000), Russia Live (47,000) and "Coachman"(32,000). The RT television channel posted two posts at once (both have now been deleted) mainly Russian-language account (177,000 views) and in the channel "Especially for RT"(34,000), where they wrote: "The 'mouthpiece of truth' CNN and others like it brazenly and openly lie to their audience about the state of affairs in Russia and its global isolation." Similar entries can be found on the website "RIA Novosti"(since it was written about Olsen "Radio Sputnik"), TV channel "Constantinople"and also The Voice Mag, Woman Hit, "Notebook", "Morning", "Podolyak", on the social networks of the TV channel "360", accounts "Public News Service» and website Newsy.ru in "Zen". In addition, the viral video was published by publics and users “VKontakte", YouTube (here And here), TikTok, "Odnoklassniki", Instagram*, LiveJournal, social networks X and Facebook* (here And here).
The 39-second viral video is part of an interview with Olsen. However, not a single publication mentioned above indicates the name of the resource that conducted the conversation with the actress. In all news items and posts on social networks, Russian-language voice acting is immediately superimposed on top of the original audio track, so it is almost impossible to hear Olsen’s speech. In the video being distributed, her words are given as follows:
I recently called up a Russian friend, with whom we became friends during my Russian studies. And you know what - I'm completely shocked. Looking at the reports on empty shelves in Moscow supermarkets on CNN, about the ruble losing its status as a means of payment, about the embargo on the supply of European products and equipment, I thought they were already like in the Middle Ages. And she turns on FaceTime and asks: “Which French wine is better to choose for the evening?” No empty shelves, the latest equipment, brands. You know, these Russians are crazy quirky guys. It's somewhere in their genes. American bans don't work there.
At the end of the 2000s, Olsen briefly studied in Moscow, which she herself repeatedly talked about in many interviews. In 2009, the actress spent semester at the Moscow Art Theater School. According to her, she always wanted to study in Russia because she loves theater, and especially Chekhov. “I was there before the invasion of Ukraine, before the Sochi Olympics, before the adoption of anti-homophobic (Olsen probably misspoke. - Ed.) laws, so it was a much more welcoming country,” told she's on the Conan O'Brien show in 2018 and then taught leading several obscene Russian words. In the same interview, the actress called Russians are incredible and added that they have experienced many crazy events.
However, “Verified” was unable to find the original source of Olsen’s conversation about sanctions based on quotes from the viral video translated into English. We found the original only through a reverse screenshot search - it turned out to be a video version of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. The full video is almost 50 minutes long and was published on host Josh Horowitz's channel back in May 2023.
In general, the conversation was devoted to the work of the actress, and Russia, according to the transcript, was mentioned in the video only once. At about 20 minutes let's go conversation on the topic of singing, and Olsen remembered: since childhood she had been told that she did not sing very well, and therefore, when, while studying in the Russian Federation, she had to sing in front of an audience, Elizabeth found it difficult to force herself to do it because of a large emotional block.
The fragment distributed in Russian-language social networks and media consists of three excerpts, the first and longest of which lasts about 29 seconds: it begins at the time stamp 33:26 and ends with 33:55. We are not talking about sanctions against Russia and not about a Russian friend - the actress said that there are several film makers with whom she wants and will work on new projects. Thus, the superimposed Russian voiceover has nothing to do with what Olsen actually said.
The earliest post with a fabricated video among those that could be found by “Verified” using keywords appeared in the Telegram channel “Pool N3"(112,000 views) November 2 at 12:00 Moscow time. Previously we have repeatedly mentioned this channel in our analysis, and a significant part of the misinformation spread there was related to video content. However, in the case of Olsen, there is no proprietary watermark on the video, and according to metadata file, it was uploaded to Telegram 45 minutes before publication, so for the first time the video could have been used in a post that we did not detect.
*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: Marvel Studios
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