In January 2024, a video allegedly filmed before the performance of an American musician circulated in the media and social networks. It is reported that the slogan “Stop funding Ukraine” was displayed on the screen near the stage, for which the artist subsequently had to apologize. We checked if this story is true.
The seven-second video being distributed shows how, during a three-dimensional show, words appear successively on stage to form the phrase Stop funding Ukraine (the authors of many publications translated it as “Stop funding Ukraine”). According to reports in Russian-language media, the anti-Ukrainian slogan was demonstrated during the warm-up at Moby’s January concert in Las Vegas. It is reported that the call caused dissatisfaction among some viewers, so the singer posted stories with an apology on his social networks. So, on top of the viral video there is an inscription in English: “Moby, next time find someone else to warm up. This is a concert, not CNN news."
The Tsargrad TV channel, among others, spoke about the video being distributed (Telegram, "Zen" And "VKontakte"), "360" And "Channel 5", publications EAdaily, "Regnum" And Avia.pro, as well as sites TVcenter.ru, Telegraf.com.ua, My.ua And "Mriya" Among Telegram channels, embarrassment during the concert was reported “Heavenly"(197,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Uncle Slava"(185,000), "Luka Ebkov" (168,000), "Putin on Telegram"(165,000), "Bullet"(114,000), "Emergency / Crimea"(88,000), "Release the Kraken!"(73,000), "From the scene"(73,000), "Urgently, now" (48,000), "Alexander Sladkov | SVO" (43,000), "Uncle Slava on Telegram"(42,000), "Russia 🇷🇺 Live"(36,000), "War history weapons" (30,000) and "Thoughts Okhlobystin"(29,000). A viral video can also be found on VKontakte (examples here, here And here) and on the social network X (here And here).
IN social networks Moby doesn't have any posts about the January show in Las Vegas. According to various sites about musical events, the artist’s last solo performance at the time of writing took place October 29, 2023 in Los Angeles, and December 9 in Philadelphia Moby was one of the guest stars on concert in honor of the 125th anniversary of the Deutsche Grammophon label. "Verified" didn't find it no mention of the embarrassment reported by Russian-language media and Telegram channels in authoritative English-language resources. There are publications in English, but these are either posts posted on social networks by pro-Russian users, probably subscribed to the media mentioned above, or notes on websites, affiliated with the Russian Federation.
In addition to the recording itself, allegedly from a Moby concert, two screenshots of the artist’s alleged stories are being circulated online as evidence. On his Instagram profile, the musician allegedly apologized to fans:
My deepest apologies to those who attended the January 3rd concert in Las Vegas. My team and I consider the behavior of one of the opening acts to be inappropriate. My team and I believe that a music concert should not be a stage for political statements. In my work I always follow the principle of mutual trust. I never double-check my work materials, including those I rely on as warm-ups for my show. My trust is the only reason this situation has arisen. However, I continue to trust people. Sincerely yours, Moby.
About Moby's stories with apologies also didn't write no American publications, and there are no traces of such publications in the musician’s account. Previously “Checked” several times refuted reports of foreign celebrities allegedly declaring their anti-Ukrainian position in Instagram stories. Most often, the authors of the fakes chose actors and actresses, but sometimes they also used the names of musicians, for example Madonnas or the bassist of the band System of a Down Shavo Odadjian.
As for Moby’s attitude towards Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, “Verified” discovered several anti-war posts on the artist’s social networks. For example, February 25, 2022 musician posted on Instagram, a video for his song Make Love Fuck War, recorded back in the early 2000s with the group Public Enemy, and wrote: “War is terrible, bloody and heartbreaking, without exception. No words can console the dead, the dying and the suffering.” In a video published on March 16 of the same year, the musician saidthat the war in Ukraine is especially terrible and stupid because it is based on “Putin’s unwillingness to learn from history” - according to Moby, almost all recent attempts by large states to take over small countries have failed. Moreover, in February 2014, the singer supported Euromaidan participants.
Using reverse image search, fact checkers from the Gvara Media project found outthat the video that became the basis for the fake was published at the beginning of January 2024 on the social networks of the artist Carmine Conte, performing under the pseudonym Mrak. In the original recording (which was mirrored during editing), the anti-Ukrainian slogan did not appear on stage, and the performance itself was in no way connected with Moby. In the caption for the video, Conte indicated that the concert took place in Santiago, the capital of Chile, in 2023 (according to website event, December 31). In addition to the changed video sequence, the authors of the fake also superimposed a different audio track on the video - instead of the composition from Mrak, the track is played on the video Eternity by Anyma and Chris Vanguard.
Thus, in 2024, Moby did not give a concert in Las Vegas - accordingly, during the warm-up before this show, an anti-Ukrainian slogan was not displayed, and the artist did not apologize for it. The musician’s stories used as evidence were forged, and a fake video distributed on the Internet was recorded at a performance by another artist in Chile at the end of 2023; At the same time, the video and audio track on the original recording were changed.
The earliest tracked “Verified” publication with fakes appeared on January 8 at 12:44 Moscow time in the Telegram channel “Sheikh Tamir"(143,000 views). Previously this channel dozens of times featured in our analyses, because he spread fakes or became their primary source. However, some media outlets and authors of Telegram channels, like Moby from a fake, rarely double-check the materials they publish.
Cover photo: @moby (Instagram)
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