On June 28, 2023, a TikTok user posted a video appearing to show Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also a candidate for the U.S. presidency, being heckled and handling it poorly. The video has since been reshared on several social media platforms, including Twitter:
Mother of god this is a huge disaster!!! Desantis may just drop out now ! #DeSantisIsADangerToTheUSA pic.twitter.com/wj1Ha3rQPm
— TRUMP FOR JAIL ????? (@azardey3) June 28, 2023
The viral video allegedly includes this exchange between DeSantis and an audience member:
WOMAN: Just came here to let you know that you'll never be our president. You're just another establishment little bitch. Thank you.
DESANTIS: Well, okay, let's not, let's just, some people are actually here to see me. You know, some people actually like me, for instance. Uh, show of hands, everybody, uh, how many of you are actually gonna vote for me?
[Audience member raises hand]
DESANTIS: One guy. Okay. I guess they… this is just really awkward.
While the video is real, this audio is either AI-generated or fabricated in some other way. The video was taken at a June 26, 2023, campaign event in Eagle Pass, Texas, in which DeSantis "presented his border security plan as part of his platform to win the Republican nomination for president."
A video of the hour-long event can be found on Rumble. In reality, the exchange — which begins at 51:30 in the full Rumble video — concerned fentanyl deaths in America. The actual transcript of that interaction looks like this:
WOMAN: Thank you Governor. Um, my name is Veronica [...]. My daughter passed away from Fentanyl poisoning. Um, this isn't really a question, but more of a… Sometimes fentanyl overdoses are not overdoses. They're poisonings. So can we start calling them what they are: a poisoning and it's a murder.
DESANTIS: Absolutely. And we're sorry to hear about your daughter. And, you know, unfortunately, I mean, we have, uh, two mothers.
[Audience member raises hand]
DESANTIS: We probably even have more here. Um, and, and it's um… yes.
Because the audio of the full event does not match the audio in the viral TikTok video, the claim that this video is authentic is False.