Did President Joe Biden really speak with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday? Or was he digitally added with the use of a green screen?
The answer, of course, is that Joe Biden was actually physically on the South Lawn yesterday speaking to reporters. But online conspiracy theorists don’t believe that.
Misinformation spread all over social media — from Reddit users to celebrities on Twitter — that President Biden actually used a green screen and was “CGI’d” into the video to appear as if he was outside the White House with reporters.
Why would Biden do this? Some conspiracy theorists believe he’s too sick to appear in public or that he’s already dead and a body double is being used. Others continue to think that Biden is not actually the president (see: the Trump inauguration conspiracies) so, of course, he wouldn’t actually be at the White House.
All of this misinformation stems from a video with an admittedly weird-looking moment that shows Joe Biden’s hand briefly passing over boom microphones that look to be stationed in front of him.
As one can see, it does look a little odd, making it the perfect fodder for conspiracy theorists.
In this video still, Biden’s hand briefly appears in front of the microphone, fueling green screen conspiracies.
Image: Screenshot: Matt Binder / Mashable
The conspiracy was so widespread that the journalist who was holding the now-controversial fuzzy grey microphone felt compelled to set the record straight on Twitter.
I was the one holding the lighter-colored fuzzy microphone and thus literally in front of @POTUS on the South Lawn. It’s all real. Who actually believes this ‘faked moon landing’ type nonsense and more importantly who is spreading it? https://t.co/9V3t0oqDz6
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) March 17, 2021
“I was the one holding the lighter-colored fuzzy microphone and thus literally in front of @POTUS on the South Lawn,” tweeted Voice of America reporter Steve Herman. “It’s all real. Who actually believes this ‘faked moon landing’ type nonsense and more importantly who is spreading it?”
Well, let’s answer Herman’s question. The video blew up on the r/Conspiracy subreddit. QAnon forums spread the theory. Former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka shared his own version of the conspiracy, saying perhaps it was the microphones that were “photoshopped” into the image. MMA legend Tito Ortiz and retired MLB star Aubrey Huff, both athletes who are known to dabble in right-wing conspiracy theories, shared the green screen speculation to hundreds of thousands of their Twitter followers.
All one would have to do, though, to debunk this conspiracy is look at the many other photos and videos from various different angles to see that this was nothing more than an optical illusion.
The angle of the camera in that viral Biden video distorts the perspective and the proximity of the boom mics, not only to Biden, but to each other.
for all the people saying this is green screen or CGI, it’s just an illusion because of the camera distortion here’s a side by side of an alternate angle where you can see how far apart the mics are and one is clearly behind the other pic.twitter.com/U7orOX42MA
— Aesthetic Degen (@Aesthetic_Degen) March 17, 2021
In one comment to the above tweet from The Hill, a user compared the video to another clip from the same moment taken at a different angle. The side-by-side comparison shows that the fuzzy grey mic is actually off to Biden’s side and not stationed directly in front of him.
That large, grey microphone is actually further to the right of Biden’s hands, not in front of them.
There are multiple videos of the exchange taken from other angles as well as images.
Obviously, there’s no green screen or CGI at play.
And, yes, Biden is alive and real… pic.twitter.com/9pF3C9RF8d
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 17, 2021
BBC reporter Shayan Sardarizadeh also compiled a slew of images from different outlets that further show the placement of the mics in relation to where Joe Biden was standing. These images help show how Biden’s hand passing in front of those boom mics in that one viral video is possible.
This won’t be the last time these sorts of “digitally altered” conspiracies make the rounds. In fact, similar claims were made against Trump just last year. The existence of real technology, such as face-swapping deepfake videos, helps fuel these types of conspiracies because the claims being made are sometimes actually technologically possible.
But once again, no, Biden (or a body double) did not film his comments to reporters yesterday on a massive Hollywood green screen set. Biden was not digitally added to the clip. The boom mics were not added in either. President Joe Biden was actually speaking outside the White House in front of a real gaggle of reporters on March 16, 2021.