Posts falsely claim videos show Russian president saying Jesus was black
- Published on March 29, 2024 at 12:36
- 6 min read
- By Erin FLANAGAN, AFP Africa
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“Putin proclaims Russia under the guidance of ‘Black Jesus,’” reads the caption of a TikTok video published on March 24, 2024.
Viewed more than 10,000 times, the account that posted the clip regularly features content about Africa.
The same footage was also widely shared on X.
The three-minute-long clip shows Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking directly to the camera. His voice is replaced by an English-language voiceover.
“Ladies and gentlemen, people of Russia, today we stand on the precipice of a monumental revelation,” the narrator says.
At 0’07”, images of two religious icons appear under Putin.
Putin’s voiceover then claims to have opened the “oldest vault known to man”, revealing religious figures inside that “are all black”.
Russia is “uniquely positioned” to accept these findings and will henceforth be “under the guidance of Black Jesus,” it says at 1’24”.
Some users commenting on the footage seem to believe Putin made the alleged announcement to deepen his ties with African countries at the expense of Western influence.
“Bro wants to create enmity between Africans and the West,” wrote a user in Nigeria.
“What a great man, thank you, Putin,” said another.
Jesus’ skin colour has long been at the centre of a fiery debate, with many images portraying the religious figure as a light-skinned European despite his Middle Eastern origins.
But the claim that Putin talked about Jesus's skin is false.
New Year speech
Using a reverse image search, AFP Fact Check found an official image from the Kremlin’s site showing Putin during his 2023 New Year’s Eve address (archived here).
In the image, the Russian president wears the same outfit as in the false TikTok clip.
The same illuminated building is also visible behind his left shoulder.
The Kremlin site includes a full English transcript of the Russian-language speech, with no mention of Jesus or religion.
By conducting a keyword search for “Putin 2023 New Year’s speech” in Russian, AFP Fact Check found a full-length version of the footage on Kyrgyzstan-based media outlet AKI Press’ official YouTube channel (archived here).
While Putin speaks Russian in the clip, the false post added an English voiceover, with the original audio still slightly audible.
Though the president speaks English, he rarely does so publicly and relies on translators for official meetings (archived here).
AFP Fact Check confirmed that Putin’s movements in the footage published by AKI align with those in the TikTok clip.
At 0’33” in the TikTok and 1’34” in the AKI footage, Putin nods emphatically.
Then, at 0’44” and 1’52”, Putin shifts his head to the left.
We then dug up the same footage in AFP’s video archives, which confirmed that the clip is from Putin’s 2023 address.
AFP’s archives also include a transcript of the video, which confirms that Putin makes no mention of Christ or religion in the speech but rather praises the Russian army and the country for being “united” behind the Kremlin.
"Today, I would like to address our servicemen… You are our heroes… I know that now you feel the love of your closest, dearest, dearest people, the powerful sincere support of millions of Russian citizens, the support of the entire people,” he says.
Serbian icons
Using a reverse image search for the religious icons embedded into the false TikTok clip, AFP found the first one on the National Museum of Serbia’s website (archived here).
The icon is a part of the museum’s post-Byzantine art collection featuring works between 1459 and 1804.
AFP Fact Check then did a keyword search for the painting’s name in Serbian, which led to this video on the National Museum of Serbia’s YouTube channel (archived here).
Both icons featured in the false TikTok are visible on the wall behind the woman speaking, indicating they are not newly discovered.
One of AFP’s Serbian-speaking journalists confirmed that the expert in the video does not mention Jesus’ ethnic origins.
Second video
A second post on TikTok, viewed more than 205,000 times, includes a 19-second video of the Russian president turning a religious icon towards the camera.
“Today Vladimir Putin reveals to the world a secret that European has been hiding from African for more than a millennium that Jesus was black (sic),” says a robotic voice.
The clip was also shared widely on X.
Using a reverse image search, AFP Fact Check found the footage stemmed from Putin’s April 2023 visit to Ukraine’s annexed Kherson region (archived here).
The BBC reported that Putin presented troops stationed in the region with a Russian Orthodox icon belonging to a 19th-century Russian defence minister (archived here).
The article also includes the same footage shared in the false social media posts.
No reporting suggests that Putin claimed that Jesus was black during the visit.
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