A video of American journalist and writer, Chris Hedges, spread on social media in which an audio clip was edited with video clips of another person within a set of clips from the Oscars and scenes of children from Gaza with the claim: “Chris Hedges’ poem at the Academy awards 2024”.
Kashif verified the video and found it was subjected to manipulation and that the claim was incorrect. Kashif found that the voice synthesized on the circulating video clip is of Hedges during a speech he gave at a conference on Genocide in Gaza, on 6 December 2023 in New York, published by “mediasanctuary” on 9 December 2023.
The circulating video contains part of Hedges’ speech in which he addresses the children of Gaza; 44:11 to 52:00 of the full video clip published by “mediasanctuary”.
Kashif’s team found that the person who appears in the circulating video is director “Indy Nile.” Nile made the video showing himself as if Hedges was giving a speech during the 96th Academy Awards announcement ceremony.
Nile told Reuters that he produced the video as a response to the failure to mention Palestinian children at the Oscars.
Kashif’s team also found that the footage included in the circulating video dates back to the 96th Academy Awards announcement ceremony in Los Angeles, California, which was organized on 10 March 2024, while Hedges’ speech dates back to 6 December 2023 in New York.
Kashif obtained a screenshot archived on the “Internet Archive” website, showing director “Indy Nile” publishing the video clip circulating on his channel on YouTube on 12 March 2024 titled: “Dear Gaza, we have failed you.” By clicking on the link to the clip, Kashif found that it had been deleted “because it violated YouTube’s community guidelines,” according to the platform.
Note: This piece was updated by adding pictures and hyperlinks for the sources of claim and verification throughout the text.
