What was claimed
A video shows the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy belly dancing.
Our verdict
The video actually shows Argentinian dancer Pablo Acosta.
Video shows Argentinian dancer, not President Zelenskyy, belly dancing
10 December 2024
Social media posts claiming to show Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy belly dancing in a tight sparkly outfit actually show an Argentinian dancer.
One post on X (formerly Twitter) includes a picture of podcaster Joe Rogan alongside a video of a man belly dancing, a caption implying the dancer is President Zelenskyy. The post claims Joe Rogan rejected the leader’s request to be on his podcast.
Similar posts have also been shared on Facebook using the same video.
But the dancer is not President Zelenskyy—it is actually a clip of a dancer named Pablo Acosta. The original video, posted on Instagram in May 2023, is higher resolution than the clips shared on social media, making it clearer that it doesn’t show the Ukrainian president. Blurring clips is a common method of making miscaptioned or edited photos or videos look more convincing—we have previously seen it in video game footage claiming to show real warzones and face-swapped videos.
Reuters has previously fact checked a similar video of Mr Acosta here.
Full Fact has also previously written about another video shared with claims it showed President Zelenskyy belly dancing. This video was likely modified using artificial intelligence (AI) to create a deepfake (where AI tools are used to mimic the face or voice of a public figure).
Prior to becoming the leader of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy had been filmed dancing in his role as a comic actor (in which he featured in a group spoofing a Ukrainian boy band’s music video) and also when he won his country’s version of Strictly Come Dancing in 2006.
Mr Rogan said in November that “Zelenskyy tried to come on” his podcast, adding: “They tried to get Zelenskyy on, and I was like, ‘what are you talking about?’”. He did not explain any further details about when the request for an interview was made, or who made it.
We have fact checked misinformation about President Zelenskyy previously, including that a photo showed him and Adolf Hitler wearing the same symbol and that Polish media accidentally published footage of his ‘body double’.
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 missing context because the video shows Argentinian dancer Pablo Acosta, not Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.