Fact Check

Malawian Minister Sent Pornographic Video to Beyoncé?

A report that the defense minister of Malawi sent a lewd video of himself to American singer Beyoncé reads like satire.

Published Oct. 5, 2016

 (Official Facebook page)
Image Via Official Facebook page
Claim:
Vincent Ghambi, a Malawian defense minister, sent a sex tape to pop superstar Beyoncé Knowles.

On 5 October 2016, the clickbait web site African Daily posted an article reporting that Malawi's Minister of Defense, Vincent Ghambi, had sent a lewd video to American music icon Beyoncé Knowles:

Vincent Ghambi, Malawi’s Deputy Minister of Defense has been hit with a sex scandal after it was revealed that he made a video while masturbating and sent [it] to US Pop star Beyoncé.

However, it is not established if the pop star got the video. Beyoncé receives millions of emails, and messages from her fans across the global.

In the video, the Minister plays with his manhood and uttering Chichewa words, apparently saying “Jay Z can’t beat this.” He does this while displaying a kiss face and throwing flying kisses to the star.

Originally, Malawi’s leading news website Nyasatimes published the same story while referring to Beyoncé as ‘Sendera Sister’, a word that largely describes a group of old women that dance for Malawi’s ruling Democratic Progressive Movement party.

The Minister has however denied the video saying “it has been doctored” by his political rivals to discredit his name.

According to Malawian media reports, Ghambi does appear to be currently embroiled in a leaked video scandal, although we could not find (let alone verify) any video of Ghambi acting inappropriately. Initial reports say he sent the video to a member of a women's group associated with his Democratic Progressive Party.

All in all, the claim that Ghambi sent a video of his "manhood" to Beyoncé sounds like a bit of satire that got lost in translation. Nonetheless, Beyoncé remains a popular Google search term in a number of southern African countries.

Bethania Palma is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who has been working in the news industry since 2006.