Fact Check

Is This a Real Pic of Zelenskyy in LGBTQ Pride Parade?

A digitally edited photo purports to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sporting short shorts and an Afro hairdo at an LGBTQ Pride event.

Published Dec. 23, 2022

 (Twitter screenshot)
Image Via Twitter screenshot
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Claim:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was photographed wearing short shorts and an Afro hairdo at an LGBTQ Pride event.

In the latter half of 2022, a doctored photograph purporting to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participating in an LGBTQ Pride parade wearing nothing but short shorts and a gigantic Afro hairdo circulated on social media. Although the face of the person alleged to be Zelenskyy does resemble him, however, he did not appear in the original, unmanipulated picture. This is an example of the edited photograph as posted on Twitter:

This is not Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

This is a cropped version of that edited photo, showing what appears to be Zelenskyy's face superimposed over that of the original subject: 

Fake Zelenskyy pic

A reverse-image search reveals that the original photograph was taken by Thomas Hobbs in 2006 and posted by the photographer on Flickr. Though the identity of the subject in question wasn't specified, it is clearly not Volovymyr Zelenskyy. 

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David Emery is a West Coast-based writer and editor with 25 years of experience fact-checking rumors, hoaxes, and contemporary legends.