At the end of April 2025, the news spread on social networks that the former first Lady of the United States called herself a man. We checked the reliability of these messages.
On April 30, Russian-speaking media and Telegram channels began to share a fragment of video shortcomings with the participation of Michelle Obama, the wife of the 44th US President Barack Obama. Edition Life.ru Wrote: “Michelle talked with actor Craig Robinson, affecting the topic of transgender children - a question that excites liberal circles. During the conversation, she noted that she is inspired by the work of Robinson with transgender youth, especially from the position of a "black man". " In Telegram, such channels as ""Themes. The main thing (Glavmedia)"(173,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"Ivan Utenkov | News"(124,000),"Gossip"(111 000), Gura Anton (106,000) and "Kostyan Cat - Official Channel"(82 000). In total, such posts, according to the TGSTAT service, scored a total of more than 1 million views in two days. An excerpt from the podcast with the participation of Obama also spread to Facebook, X And Livejournal.
First of all, we note that in the podcast, which is discussed in viral messages, Michelle Obama did not talk with actor Craig Robinson, as Life.ru claims. The 22-second video that was dispersed through social networks is the basis of one of the IMO podcast issues, which the former first lady leads with her brother, basketball coach by Craig Robinson. Obama turns to one of the guests in the viral video, the American actor Marlon Wyans: “I wanted to talk a little with you, Marlon, about how I am proud of the fact that you serve as a model for imitation in communication with a transgender child. You know, it warms my heart. Especially as a black man. ”
The full episode of the podcast was published on the Obama YouTube channel on April 30. Conversation about the experience of raising a transgender child Michelle Beginning Closer to the end of the release with such words: “Speaking of education, I wanted to talk a little with you, Marlon, about how I am proud that you serve as an example to follow in communicating with a transgender child. You know, it warms my heart. Especially as a black man, would you like to share this experience? " That is, this fragment was deliberately carved in such a way as to distort the Obama’s replica.
The earliest publication, which contained a trimmed video and which was tracked “verified”, appeared on the social network X in the English -speaking blog @EndwokeNess April 30 at 18:17 Moscow time. “Michelle Obama:“ You are raising a transgender child. It warms my heart as a black man, ”the signature for the video read. By the time of writing this parsing, Twit gained 6.4 million views and about 3,200 reposts. Among the Russian -speaking bloggers, one of the first to share this video was user x @Intoleranter. He published a similar tweet about two hours later.
The narrative that Michelle Obama was born a man, It spreads At least from 2008, when her husband won his first presidential election. In July 2014, this story gained momentum when comedian Joan Rivers is publicly Name Barack Obama gay, and his wife is a transgender. In June 2023, the American podcaster Jason Witlock released a two -hour episode His show, mainly devoted to unreasonable theories of a conspiracy around the family of the former US president. In particular, Witlock also suggested that Michelle Obama is a transgender woman trying to hide her biological sex from the public. In February 2025, Ilon's father Mask Errol also confidently declaredthat the former first lady was born a man. From time to time, fake photographs of Michelle Obama appear on the Web, in which she looks like a man, and the publication that her real name is Michael Lavon Robinson. Factskeeping projects, such as Snopes And Politifactas well as our colleagues from USA Today, AFP And Reuters Replaced this conspiracy theory repeatedly, each time coming to the conclusion that not one of the evidence confirming it has reason.
Nevertheless Fake penetrated into the Russian -speaking media space. In particular, users of social networks shared fake photos Michelle-male and distributed on this subject statements, for example: “Michelle Obama is actually a very close friend of a hut named Michael. When the hut began to build a political career, Guyushk friends had to hide their secret divisions, and Michael became a target. ” Analysis These fakes Published Different Russian -speaking facts Projects.
Thus, Michelle Obama did not call herself a black man. In fact, turning to the guest of her podcast, she asked him to tell about the experience of educating a transgender son, being an African American. The viral passage was intentionally trimmed so as to mislead the audience (and reinforce the long -existing conspiracy theory that the former first Lady of the United States was born a man).
Photo on the cover: YouTube screenshot
- Snopes. No, Michelle Obama Isnomet Trans - BUT HERE'S WHY Her Critics Repeat The False Claim
- Factcheck. Disinformation: Michelle Obama - Transgender
- Forbes. To become the first lady: Michelle Obama has released a book about a difficult path to the White House
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