A video shows Michelle Obama saying in her speech to the Democratic National Convention that Donald Trump felt threatened by “two successful gay men who happen to be black”, in a reference to herself and former President Barack Obama.
This isn’t what she really said, and the audio on the video has been altered. The real footage shows Mrs Obama actually said “successful people” not “successful gay men”.
A clip of Michelle Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention is being shared on social media with altered audio.
In the video, which is circulating on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, the former First Lady can be seen speaking at the Chicago event on 21 August.
In the footage, Mrs Obama appears to say: “For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us.
“See his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful gay men who happen to be black.”
A caption also being shared with the clip says: “Did Michelle Obama just say what I think she said?”
But the video has been edited, and Mrs Obama made no reference to gay men in her speech.
Other footage, and a full transcript of the speech show that she actually said “highly educated, successful people who happen to be black”.
The video appears to be part of a series of baseless theories that have been circulating doubting Mrs Obama’s gender.
Although some claims seem really obviously false, we still fact check them because it may not be clear to everyone that it is untrue, particularly more casual internet users. We’ve also written about this in more detail.
It’s important to consider whether an image or video is genuine before amplifying it on social media. You can read our guide to spotting deepfakes and AI audio to help you do that.
We have previously fact checked other videos which have altered audio, including of Kamala Harris and Keir Starmer.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as altered because part of the audio of Michelle Obama’s speech has been altered to include words she did not actually say.
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