No, these images do not show two famous Indonesian comedians declaring support for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto

This article is more than one year old.
Published on February 21, 2019 at 03:30
2 min read
By AFP Indonesia

A Facebook post shared thousands of times features three photos it claims show two popular Indonesian comedians, Entis Sutisna -- known as Sule -- and Andre Taulany, demonstrating their support for opposition presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto. The post is misleading: the main image has been doctored, while the other two photos are screenshots of momentary gestures made while the comedians hosted President Joko Widodo on their TV talk show.

Shared to Facebook on January 30, the post has a caption that translates to English as: “Clever people vote for the right candidate”.

Screenshot of the misleading post.

Its main image shows Sule wearing a white shirt bearing the logo of Gerindra -- an Indonesian political party chaired by Subianto -- as he stands next to Taulany.

The second photo shows Taulany appearing to make a two-finger salute while a man who looks like Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, stands on the right.

The third photograph shows Sule making the same hand gesture. A logo for NET, a local TV station, can be seen in the upper right corner of the two images.

Raising two fingers is widely seen as a gesture of support for Subianto, who is ballot number 2 in Indonesia’s April elections. Widodo is ballot number 1.

The announcement by Indonesia’s General Elections Commission (KPU) on the ballot numbers for the upcoming polls can be seen here on its official website.

According to a Google reverse image search, none of the three images shows Sule and Taulany declaring support for Subianto.

The main photo was manipulated from an image Taulany shared on his official Instagram account on November 25, 2017. The white shirt Sule wears in the photo is plain.

Below is a comparison of the doctored and original images:

Screenshots of the main photo (left) and the original Instagram image (right).

The second and third images are screenshots taken from a YouTube video uploaded by Ini Talk Show, a NET programme hosted by Sule and Taulany.

The clip comes from a January 28, 2019 episode where Widodo was a guest.

Below is the original footage which was posted on Ini Talk Show's official YouTube channel:

The moments that were screenshotted and used in the misleading Facebook post can be seen at 4:51 and 5:01 of the YouTube video.

Sule and Taulany made the gesture after Widodo enters the talk show studio.

Taulany is seen briefly pointing to Widodo before inviting the audience to applaud.

A moment later, Sule uses the same gesture to briefly point to his co-host while the pair chat with Widodo.

Screenshots of the photos in the misleading post and those taken from the original YouTube video.

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