Trump misrepresents video of UCLA 'undie run' as Venezuelans celebrating
- Published on January 8, 2026 at 18:11
- 2 min read
- By AFP Mexico, AFP USA
- Translation and adaptation Bill MCCARTHY
US President Donald Trump shared a video claimed to show Venezuelans celebrating after US special forces seized the country's leader Nicolás Maduro in an overnight raid January 3, 2026. But the footage actually shows University of California, Los Angeles students participating in a December 2025 "undie run," an unofficial campus tradition.
"Venezuela celebrates Democrats cry," says text over the video, which Trump posted twice on his Truth Social platform January 5.
The same clip spread widely across platforms such as X and TikTok, including in Spanish, following the ouster of Maduro, who along with his wife Cilia Flores was captured amid intense bombing and flown to the United States. The two pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in a New York courthouse January 5.
Thousands of people marched through Caracas that day in support of Maduro as his former deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as interim president. Some Venezuelans abroad, meanwhile, have celebrated the removal of the authoritarian left-wing leader.
But the video Trump promoted is unrelated.
AFP traced the footage to a TikTok video posted December 11, 2025 -- weeks before the US operation in Venezuela -- by a user whose bio mentions UCLA (archived here and here). The post includes the hashtag "#uclaundierun" and shows a crowd of scantily-clad people parading down a street.
Another December Tiktok video geotagged to UCLA's campus shows the event, including some of the same individuals, from a similar angle (archived here).
A student website describes the "undie run" as an unofficial "quarterly student tradition where students wear underwear and run" that dates to 2002 and "takes place on the Wednesday of finals week at midnight" (archived here).
The school newspaper, the Daily Bruin, and the Los Angeles Times have covered the event in past years.
UCLA's academic calendar shows final examinations for the 2025 fall quarter took place between December 8 and December 12.
Google Street View imagery confirms the location of the video on the university's campus (archived here).
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the US intervention in Venezuela here.
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