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On June 13, 2024, news began to circulate on the Internet that the US President at a meeting of G7 leaders lost his orientation in space and began talking to invisible people. We decided to check what really happened.
Biden's alleged embarrassment was reported "Russian newspaper", "Moscow 24", "News", as well as other media and information portals. The news spread widely on social networks (“VKontakte", X, Facebook) and especially on Telegram, where the incident was reported by the channels "Sanya in Florida"(276,000 views at the time of writing this analysis)"Putin on Telegram"(185,000), "Uncle Slava"(159,000), Nexta Live (156,000), Voblya (120,000), etc. Most posts are accompanied by videos lasting about 30 seconds. The footage shows that Biden, standing in the company of leaders of the G7 countries, is not looking in the same direction as his colleagues, and then completely separates from the group. Afterwards, Italian Prime Minister and hostess of the international forum, Giorgia Meloni, calls out to him, bringing him back to the others for a group photo.
June 13, 2024 in Italy opened summit of country leaders "G7"(G7) - an informal club of the seven largest developed economies in the world. It includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain and the USA. One of the events on the forum program was skydiving show, who demonstrated an accurate landing on the site in front of high-ranking guests. Representatives of the parachute group carried the flags of the summit, the G7 member countries and the European Union.
In the video that went viral on social networks, at first glance it seems that Biden is really going in an unclear direction, to nowhere. The video spread not only across the Russian-speaking, but also across the English-speaking segment of the Internet - many tabloids wrote about the embarrassment of the American leader, for example the American New York Post and Canadian Toronto Sun. The campaign headquarters of Donald Trump, Biden's rival in the upcoming fall presidential election, also reacted to the news. In the official statement says: "From Italy to the UK to New York, millions of people around the world woke up to headlines about Joe Biden's cognitive decline, which was on full display at the G7 summit." He himself spoke about this Trump — in even harsher terms: “We have a president who has no idea what the hell is going on. Look at him yesterday, look at him the day before yesterday in Europe, he has no idea where the hell he is.”
Viral video cut from broadcasts, which was hosted by the official YouTube channel of the summit. On a more general level, in 30 seconds. before the excerpt went viral on social networks visiblethat there are many more people on the site than might appear from the cut out fragment. That video showed a man sitting on his knees next to Biden and collecting a flag in a backpack, but the American leader is not addressing him, but someone standing behind him. On broadcast in 5 sec. Before the viral fragment, it is clear that this is a skydiver who landed a little earlier. It is to him that Biden gives the thumbs up, while other politicians focused their attention on the last parachutist to land. Therefore, to say that the President of the United States, addressing someone outside the frame, is speaking to invisible people is baseless.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates reacted to the New York Post: “Murdoch's publications are so desperate to distract attention from Biden's record that they are simply lying. Here they use an artificially narrow frame to hide from the viewer that they have just watched a skydiving demonstration. He congratulates one of the skydivers and gives a thumbs up.”
Posts ridiculing Biden became so viral that even British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was present at the summit, commented on the situation. In his statement he noted that Biden, after waiting for the parachutists to land, “simply walked over to talk to each of them personally.”
Opponents of the 81-year-old US president often point out that Biden is too old for his position. Within this narrative, politicians are ascribed absurd statements, taking words out of context, interpret his jokes are like serious statements, edit photos and videos. Publications about Biden’s communication with invisible interlocutors too not an innovation. "Verified" already sorted it out several similar messages, and they all turned out to be fakes - in each case there were very real people behind the scenes who were visible in the videos filmed from a different angle.
Thus, the fragment spread on social networks does not give a complete picture of what was happening on the site where the paratroopers landed, and because of this, viewers could have the false impression that Biden was turning into nothingness. However, literally in 5 seconds. Before the start of the viral excerpt in the original broadcast, it is clear that in the direction where Biden turned, the paratrooper who landed earlier is sitting - in the scattered videos he simply does not fall into the frame. It was to him that the American leader addressed.
Correction 06/24/24: Changes have been made to the analysis. It is clarified that in the viral video, Biden is not addressing the person on the right side of the video, but the parachutist, who is off-screen but visible in a more general shot five seconds before the moment at which the excised fragment from the broadcast begins. The original version of the text can be found at link.
Cover photo: X @G7
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