Palestinian flag video shows 'Peaky Blinders' fan, not Cillian Murphy

"What happens when a protest for Palestine goes past the set filming for the new film of Peaky Blinders? Cillian Murphy does this...." says a November 14, 2024 post sharing the clip on both Facebook and X.

Image

Screenshot from X taken November 18, 2024

Similar posts on X have shared the video with messages such as: "The Peaky Blinders stand with Palestine!"

In the 18-second clip, a man waves a Palestinian flag and runs along a street while wearing an outfit reminiscent of gangster Tommy Shelby, Murphy's character in the six-season saga about a fictional British crime family.

Murphy, who more recently starred in the title role of the 2023 blockbuster "Oppenheimer," is reprising the Shelby role for the new movie -- which is already in production, according to a November 1 release from Netflix (archived here).

However, the Irish actor is not the man brandishing the Palestinian flag in the video circulating online.

Reverse image searches surfaced matching footage on TikTok as early as October 14 (archived here). Hashtags in the TikTok post's caption identify the man as Derek Liam Brennan and indicate the footage was recorded near the Big Bulls Head, a pub in Birmingham, England, on October 13 (archived here).

Brennan, from Birmingham, is an administrator for a Facebook group where fans of "Peaky Blinders" post about the acclaimed show and plan meet-ups (archived here). A Facebook event shows he organized an October 13 gathering for group members at the Big Bulls Head, their usual meeting place (archived here).

The same day, an activist group called Birmingham Palestine Action hosted a march along a route that took them past the Big Bulls Head (archived here and here). Hundreds attended, according to local media (archived here).

The TikTok user who posted the original footage told AFP in a November 18 message that they filmed it from the protest and that it shows Brennan, not Murphy.

Another video Brennan posted from his "Peaky Blinders" event shows him and fellow fans sporting the same outfits as those in the clip circulating online (archived here).

Brennan told AFP in an Instagram direct message that the posts circulating online are "wrong."

He said he carried the banner as the pro-Palestinian march was underway in the same area but that he was not part of the protest.

"It's all a joke," he said November 18. "We was nothing to do with the march. We are fans of the show that is all."

He added: "I don't get involved in politics."

In a pair of follow-up posts on X, the user who first claimed Murphy was holding the flag later corrected the record and identified the man as Brennan.

Murphy dedicated an Oscar award he won in March for his "Oppenheimer" performance to "peacemakers everywhere" but did not reference the war in Gaza directly.

AFP contacted representatives for Murphy for comment, but no response was forthcoming.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict here.