White House Posts Fake Video Of Joe Biden 'Sleeping' During TV Interview

In a video circulated by White House Deputy Chief Of Staff Dan Scavino via Twitter on Sunday night, Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden appears to fall asleep during an interview with newscaster Leyla Santiago, now a CNN correspondent. Twitter has now flagged the video, which has 2.1 million views as of this post, as manipulated media. The reason? As CBS Sacramento anchor John Dabkovich clarifies in his own tweet, "This is fake. You know how I know? I was the coanchor in studio. We were interviewing Harry Belafonte."

Indeed, multiple YouTube videos from 2011 show Belafonte apparently dozed off while Santiago attempts to interview him on Bakersfield's KBAK-TV. His publicist later told the station it was a technical glitch and Belafonte was stuck in freeze frame. Whatever happened there, it was nine years ago, and it didn't involve Joe Biden. Rather, the footage has been doctored to reflect negatively on Biden. It's a reminder that videos can easily be manipulated and not everything you see online is real.

Now Belafonte, the 93-year-old singer-songwriter and actor, has offered a statement on the deepfake to the New York Times. "They keep stooping lower and lower," Belafonte writes. "A technical glitch in an interview I did nine years ago now becomes another one of their lies, more of their fake news. I beg every sane American — please vote them out. I knew many who gave their life for the right to vote. Never has it been so vital to exercise that right."

Both the doctored video and the original footage are viewable below.

This is fake. You know how I know? I was the coanchor in studio.

We were interviewing Harry Belafonte. https://t.co/gPRU9JGyI7

— John Dabkovich (@JohnDabkovich) August 31, 2020

一是反智，二是反华。不懂一些来美的华人，还冲在前线支持川。真当自己是白人么。。估计大纪元看太多。

White House Posts Fake Video Of Joe Biden 'Sleeping' During TV Interview

The footage was taken from a 2011 interview with Harry Belafonte, who later had some choice words for Trump.


A video manipulated to make it appear as if Joe Biden were sleeping during a TV interview is being condemned by, of all people, Harry Belafonte.

White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino posted a faked video Sunday night on Twitter that showed the former vice president appearing to be sound asleep and snoring as an interview was set to begin.

However, the video is faked, with Biden's face digitally place on Belafonte's body, according to CBS Sacramento anchor John Dabkovich, who said he was in the studio when the interview took place.

A YouTube clip of the original Belafonte interview shows the footage used for Scavino's manipulated tweet took place in October 2011. The interviewer can be heard referring to "Harry."

Although Twitter has labeled Scavino's tweet as "manipulated media," it remains on the site.

HuffPost reached out to Scavino for comment, but he did not immediately respond.

Many Twitter users have condemned Scavino's stunt, but none more forcefully than singer and actor Belafonte, who has long fought for civil rights.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/j ... c9dc5b697186e39e177