Fact Check

Is This really how Muslim world reacted to Obama's latest speech?

Does this video really show the Muslim world's reaction to Obama's latest speech about the dangers of climate change?

Published May 26, 2015

Claim:

Claim:   A video shows the Muslim world's reaction to President Obama's claim that climate change is threatening America.


FALSE


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, May 2015]


There is a Facebook video that claims the muslem world is reacting to the Presidents speech on Climate Change. It shows leaders of the muslem world speaking in a language that is not English and has subtitles of what they are saying. The subtitles have very unflattering remarks about the President.

 

Origins: On 20 May 2015, the YouTube channel iPhone Conservative uploaded a video that combined President Obama's commencement address at the United States Coast Guard Academy and a subtitled segment from an unidentified foreign talk show:

While the description for the above-displayed video did not specifically state that the foreign language portion of the video was incorrectly subtitled for humorous effect, the description did mention "Poe's Law":



Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.

Unsurprisingly, many people were fooled by the above-displayed video and thought that it actually showed the "Muslim world's reaction" to Obama's claim that climate change is a serious threat to the United States.

On 22 May 2015, iPhone Conservative added a comment underneath this YouTube video to clarify that the subtitles did not provide an accurate translation:



Folks, this a spoof. It was never intended to be taken as a legitimate news report. Obviously two things are at play here. One, I did the job too well. Two, we have come to the stage in the Obama presidency where quite literally anything is possible.

Last updated:   26 May 2015

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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