Footage of Army-Navy game dubbed with anti-Biden audio

This article is more than one year old.
Published on December 11, 2023 at 23:04
3 min read
By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA

A video circulating online appears to show a crowd of US cadets shouting an expletive-laden chant about President Joe Biden during the annual American football matchup between the Army and Navy military academies. But the original footage does not feature the anti-Biden chorus; the journalist who captured it said on social media that the audio was altered.

"Massive 'F-ck Joe Biden' chant breaks out at Army / Navy game," says text over a version of the video shared December 9, 2023 on Instagram.

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Screenshot from Instagram taken December 11, 2023

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Similar posts rocketed across Instagram and other platforms -- including TikTok, YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter -- after the rival military academy teams met for the 124th time.

The historic collegiate matchup, known as "America's Game," took place at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on December 9. Army beat Navy 17-11.

But the video has been altered -- the latest in a long line of viral clips edited to add anti-Biden chants.

The doctored Army-Navy clip appears to have originated with a popular pro-Donald Trump account on X called "il Donaldo Trumpo," which has previously shared several similarly manipulated videos of the Democratic president and other Trump opponents. The account posted it on X, Telegram and Rumble.

The original, unedited footage does show fans jumping and singing -- but not about Biden.

Keagan Stiefel, a digital content producer at the New England Sports Network, posted the clip to X on December 9 (archived here). Stiefel later wrote in a separate post that his version had been "doctored" (archived here).

I’ve never experienced anything like #ArmyNavy. This is an unbelievable atmosphere. pic.twitter.com/58wK80dqru
— Keagan Stiefel (@KeaganStiefel) December 9, 2023

The Army cadets appear to be chanting the tune of "Tsunami" by DVBBS and Borgeous, which is playing in the background (archived here).

Videos from past Army football games feature the same chant (archived here, here and here).

Doctored sign

Another post from il Donaldo Trumpo purports to show a cadet holding a sign outside the stadium that says: "TRUMP WON FUCK JOE BIDEN!!!"

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Screenshot from X, formerly Twitter, taken December 11, 2023

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Copycat posts later circulated on Instagram, further spreading the false claim that Trump won the 2020 US presidential election.

But the photo is also altered.

The original, which the TV program "College GameDay" shared December 9, shows a sign that says: "IF Maverick Had Gone to WESTPOINT, Goose Would Still be Alive" (archived here).

.@ArmyWP_Football wouldn't let Goose go out like that #CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/2dl4zjBf1h
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 9, 2023

Maverick and Goose are characters in the movie "Top Gun," a 1986 drama about the Navy's fighter weapons school. West Point, New York is home to the US Military Academy.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about US politics here.