USA Today published a video reporting on a “drunken brawl” involving a security officer for President Zelenskyy in a bar in New York.
This is a fake video. USA Today confirmed it did not create or publish it and there are no records of any such incident taking place.
A video circulating online appears to be a report from USA Today about a “drunken brawl” supposedly between a security officer for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a member of the public. But, this is not a genuine news report and there’s no evidence such an incident took place.
According to the video, someone from the Ukrainian delegation ordered people in a New York bar to shout “Glory to Ukraine” and when they refused, he allegedly “attacked the bartender”. The incident supposedly took place on 21 September at a bar named The Campbell near the United Nations (UN) headquarters, where President Zelenskyy recently spoke.
The video says: “Witnesses claim the man was drunk and aggressive. A scuffle ensued, resulting in injuries to a member of the Ukrainian delegation. The police detained all the participants in the bar fight.”
The video has been shared on Facebook, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter). One version on X, which has more than 1,200 views, has the caption: “One of Zelensky’s security guards got into a scandalous situation in New York, US media reported”. The video has also been shared on Telegram with a Russian caption.
Full Fact has debunked multiple false claims about Ukraine since Russia’s invasion last year. We’ve also seen other instances where misinformation appears to have been published by genuine news outlets, such as screenshots of fake Guardian headlines and deepfake clips of BBC presenters. Misleading images and videos can be convincing and so it’s important to check posts are genuine before you share—you can read more about how to spot fakes here and here.
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The video is a compilation of multiple clips showing the UN building in New York, a bartender at The Campbell, CCTV footage of a fight inside a bar, a street brawl, New York City Police Department (NYPD) cars and an ambulance. It has the USA Today logo in the corner and the subtitles appear in the publication’s style.
The montage also includes genuine footage from President Zelenskyy’s recent three-day visit to New York and Washington D.C. last month. One clip shows him addressing the UN General Assembly where he reportedly urged Security Council members to remove Russia’s veto power, while another shows him at the US Capitol.
USA Today confirmed the video is not a genuine report created or published by the outlet. It said: “The video includes the USA TODAY logo and is produced in a similar style, but it was not created by USA TODAY. USA TODAY did not publish any video or story reporting such an incident.”
A spokesperson for USA Today said a “claim on false information” had been filed with the platform, X, to prevent the misinformation spreading further online.
There’s no evidence the incident outlined in the video actually took place.
Full Fact has not found any reports of a bar fight involving a Ukrainian delegate in credible news outlets, or on the NYPD website. A spokesperson for the law enforcement agency told USA Today that “there are no complaint reports on file” matching the information in the video.
Similarly, spokespeople for the Gerber Group, who own The Campbell bar where the fight supposedly took place, confirmed to fact checkers at USA Today and AFP that no such incident took place at the venue.
Moreover, there are other inconsistencies that suggest the video does not show what it claims. A shop called Soho Boutique can be seen in the background of the clip supposedly showing the street brawl. This venue is located on Quentin Road in Brooklyn, which corresponds to other details in the clip, such as green lights in the background from an Investors Bank, signs on lamp posts for New York Centre for Asian Studies (NYCAS), umbrellas at the venue across the road and a half-faded shop sign saying ‘Gift Depot’.
Therefore, this locates the brawl in the clip around12 miles away from where the video claims the incident took place in The Campbell bar in Manhattan.
Full Fact has contacted the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment and will update the article if we receive a response.
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Image courtesy of GK tramrunner RU |
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because USA Today confirmed it did not create or publish this video. There are no reports of any such incident taking place.
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