On May 29, Georgian-language Facebook users (1, 2) shared a Russian-language video in which the author claims that a person with a disability, a transgender woman with impaired hearing, sang Whitney Houston’s song and won in a German talent show. The author attaches to the post a video of a performance of a woman singing.
Facebook users disseminate video manipulation. In fact, the woman we see in the video is one of the participants of the Brazilian show and did not win a German singing competition. The video of the mentioned performance can be found on the internet as early as 2012.
The video, which the author claims to show a deaf woman winning a German show, was uploaded on YouTube in 2012.
A transgender woman named Mudinha Do Juazeiro participated in a Brazilian show called “Qual é o Seu Talento?” (What’s your talent?) Singers, dancers, and people with different talents participated in the project, and a cash sum was offered to the winner. Mudinha Do Juazeiro did not become the winner of the show. She has also published a post about the show on her Facebook page.
Mudinha Do Juazeiro is referred to in social networks as “Bixa Muda” – a name containing an offensive word in Brazilian Portuguese referring to a transgender woman. The video that made the woman popular was uploaded to YouTube in 2008. In the following years, Brazilian media reported that Juazeiro was participating in the city council elections (1;2;3).
The information that Mudinha Do Juazeiro took part in the German song contest is not confirmed by open sources. She has not posted anything about winning or participating in the show on her Facebook and Instagram pages.
About the Sources
Facebook user Lali Laliko systematically publishes false information with anti-Western content. “Myth Detector” has debunked the false information published by the user in the past as well.
“Myth Detector” has also debunked false claims made by pro-Kremlin user, alt-info supporter Levan Mchedlishvili.
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