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Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke May 19, 2021

No, Biden wasn’t ‘computer generated’ in a March interview

If Your Time is short

  • Joe Biden briefly appeared before reporters on the White House grounds on March 17. 
     
  • He was not a "holographic image."
 

An eight-hour video recently posted on Facebook makes multiple wild and unfounded allegations about President Joe Biden, including a claim that appears in the video’s title: "Biden is computer generated."  

This comes up about two hours into the video, when the host discusses a clip of the president walking to a waiting helicopter on the White House grounds on March 16. 

Biden stopped and briefly spoke with reporters before boarding the helicopter that day, and we’ve previously debunked claims that the interview was faked and that Biden was standing in front of a green screen. 

This Facebook post goes further. Focusing on a clip of the president in which the top of his head seems to disappear against the sky, the host says, "This is not Joe Biden making an appearance."

"What you’re actually seeing here is a holographic image of Joe Biden being transmitted from behind the scenes," he says.

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This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Another version of the video shows that Biden’s head is not cut off. While his white hair blends into the cloud-covered sky, he was appearing in person in front of a group of reporters. 

And journalists from multiple news outlets were there to witness it. Both The Hill and the Washington Post published footage of the president, and Steve Herman, a Voice of America reporter, tweeted about rumors that the president had faked the interview. 

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"I was the one holding the lighter-colored fuzzy microphone and thus literally in front of @POTUS on the South Lawn," Herman wrote. "It’s all real."

Other images from that day show the president, microphones and reporters from other angles. 

In a Reuters image taken by photographer Tom Brenner, Biden can be seen from the side talking to reporters who are standing several feet away with their microphones extended. A Getty Images shot by photographer Drew Angerer, shows Biden standing behind the microphones from below. 

We rate claims that Biden appeared as a "computer generated" image Pants on Fire.

 

Our Sources

Facebook post, May 19, 2021

PolitiFact, No, Biden didn’t fake an interview in front of a green screen, March 18, 2021

YouTube, Biden fakes interview, Green screen fails, March 17, 2021

The Washington Post, Biden does not plan to travel to border amid migrant surge, March 16, 2021

The Hill tweet, March 16, 2021

Steve Herman tweet, March 17, 2021

The Peninsula, Biden to hold first news conference on March 25 - White House, March 17, 2021

Politico, Biden to hold first news conference March 25, March 26, 2021

Mashable, Conspiracy theorists think Joe Biden used a green screen to fake a recent appearance. (He did not.), March 17, 2021

 

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No, Biden wasn’t ‘computer generated’ in a March interview

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