On February 26, a Facebook account called “Georgian Conservative” shared a video in which Nika Gvaramia, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, appears as a guest on the show “Mdzime Katstan.” In the video, when the host asks who the most sexually attractive Georgian journalist is, Gvaramia responds, “This man’s name is Giorgi Gabunia… I don’t want to talk about this publicly.”
A fabricated video about Nika Gvaramia is circulating on social media. In reality, this manipulated footage consists of fragments of a 2014 interview and a 2020 program that have been edited in such a way as to present his words in an altered context, falsely suggesting that, in response to the host’s question about who he considers the most sexually attractive journalist, Gvaramia named Giorgi Gabunia. Gvaramia named Giorgi Gabunia.
The video shared online is a fragment from the “Mdzime Katstan” show, which originally aired in May 2014. At the 12-minute and 48-second mark of the interview, the show’s host, Davit Kovziridze, asks Gvaramia, “Who do you think is the most sexually attractive Georgian journalist?” The politician replies that he has never viewed journalists in that way and has never thought about the topic:
Nika Gvaramia: “I have never looked at journalists from this perspective. I actually believe that journalists have no gender. Well, of course, they do, but when you evaluate them as professionals… I don’t know; I’ve never thought about it.”
The video also includes another phrase from Gvaramia: “I don’t want to talk about this publicly.” This sentence is actually from the beginning of the interview, where he is asked a completely different question. Kovziridze asks [at the 44-second mark]: “Have you ever been ashamed when looking in the mirror?” Gvaramia responds that he has, but when the host asks him to specify when, the politician replies that he doesn’t want to discuss it.
As for yet another phrase heard in the video, “This man’s name is Giorgi Gabunia,” it was actually said by Gvaramia in 2020 during the show “Mtavari Akcentebi.” In that show, Gvaramia was discussing the assassination plot against Giorgi Gabunia, which was allegedly ordered after the journalist insulted Russian President Vladimir Putin on air.
About the Source
The anonymous Facebook account “Georgian Conservative” is a supporter of the pro-Kremlin group Alt-Info and frequently spreads anti-Western content. Fact-checking organizations, including Myth Detector, have flagged multiple posts from this account as false information.
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