On August 19, the anti-opposition Facebook page, Shig Evropashi, posted a short video (the so-called reels), featuring Irakli Kupradze and Mamuka Khazaradze, the leaders of Lelo for Georgia, singing alongside other popular figures (Merab Sepashvili, Rati Amaghlobeli, Gia Roinishvili…). The lyrics of the song, however, contain profanity: “F*ck our mother’s mother, rose is planted and a penis grows…” The author of the post writes: “They’re singing their song again.” Comments on the video suggest that Facebook users believe that the members of the political party are actually singing these profane lyrics.
Update 27.08.2024: On August 26, the Facebook page “Mikheil Bidzinauri” published a different version of the video from the party “Lelo for Georgia.” The video features the song “Misha is Great.”
A video of Lelo for Georgia members singing has been edited. The original video, posted by Mamuka Khazaradze on his Facebook page, shows them actually singing the song “Smile.”
On August 18, Mamuka Khazaradze, the chairperson of the political party Lelo for Georgia and leader of the Strong Georgia coalition, posted a video in which he and the party’s General Secretary, Irakli Kupradze, along with others, are singing the song “Smile.” In the caption to the video, Khazaradze writes a phrase from the song’s lyrics: “Do not fear anything.”
When viewing the video posted by Shig Evropashi, it also becomes clear that the mouth movements of the people captured in the video do not match the lyrics of the song and that, in reality, they are singing Merab Sepashvili’s song “Smile.” The video distributed by the Facebook page has been edited, with the original song being dubbed over by a different one.
Similar video manipulations have also previously targeted politicians and political parties. Myth Detector has verified a number of similar videos in the past:
- MAMUKA KHAZARADZE’S FABRICATED VIDEO CIRCULATING ON FACEBOOK
- MANIPULATED VIDEO OF “FEDERALISTS” POLITICAL PARTY CIRCULATES ON FACEBOOK
- MANIPULATED VIDEO OF JAPARIDZE’S APPEARANCE ON THE “LIE DETECTOR” PROGRAM CIRCULATING ON FACEBOOK
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