Pro-Russian channels often use foreign media brands and fragments from original videos to create fake news. We’ve debunked many of them. This time, a fragment of a KENS 5 (USA) video was shared online. In the video, news anchors seem to discuss a son of Ukraine’s former foreign minister buying the throne from the Game of Thrones show.
What happened?
On December 3, Telegram channels that regularly spread pro-Russian propaganda, e.g. “Gura Anton,” “Sheikh Tamir” (Шейх Тамир), “Cat Kostian — official channel,” (Кот Костян – официальный канал), ЖС Premium, and others published a post. The authors said that the news anchors of the American KENS 5 channel supposedly talked about Dmytro Kuleba’s son purchasing an iron throne from Game of Thrones on a program. They write:
“In the USA, TV [hosts] talk about a delicate business: how exactly Yehor Kuleba bought for himself an iron throne from the Game of Thrones show. Where did the humble 18-years-old boy get $1.5 million to buy it?”
This fake has also been shared on X (1, 2), too, in particular on the accounts that have been spreading pro-Russian disinformation already.
Analysis
First, we’ve checked the video reports of KENS 5 of San Antonio (TX, USA) channel that were published on its official website (1, 2). We found the original video from October 15, the clips of which have been used to create the fake video shared on Telegram.
The original news report really discusses the auction Heritage Auctions in Dallas, where equipment, weapons, jewelry, and other props from Game of Thrones have been sold, including the iron throne. But the report makes no mention of Ukraine’s former foreign affairs minister or his son. Authors of Telegram posts took a chunk of the original video and added fake subtitles, photos of Kuleba and his son, and the publicly available images to it.
The former foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba commented on the fake news, saying the posts from Telegram are a good example of how fake news works.
“A vivid example of how fakes work. In October, the original video of a small TV channel from San Antonio is released. Hosts are talking about the Game of Thrones throne that was bought by a local fan of the series for $1.5 million. In December, that same video, with a fake logo and a photo of me and my son Yehor edited into it, was posted on his Telegram channel by some Anton Gura. Now, the post says that the throne was bought by Yehor for crazy money, and Gura phlegmatically states that that might be fake info, but still knowingly posts it,” Kuleba said.
Conclusion: Fake
Author: Anna Ormanzhy
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