In a short clip of President Biden talking to reporters on the South Lawn on Tuesday, the president’s hand for a moment appeared to pass over a microphone, then under it. As it turns out, the microphone was off to Mr Biden’s right, not in front of him, creating a brief optical illusion.
But that’s not how QAnon saw it.
Online conspiracy theorists pounced on the video, claiming it was faked using computer animation or a green screen. QAnon believers and other right-wing users of Twitter and Reddit said it proved Mr Biden is too sick to appear before the press, or even dead.
“This is a green screen,” one tweeted. “Watch carefully how his hands go IN FRONT of the microphones.”
“Who is in charge of the CGI at the White House?” another wrote. “This is 3rd grade level green screen.”
“@JoeBiden taking questions in front of the green screen. Notice the hand going right through the microphone,” tweeted former Major League Baseball player Aubrey Huff. “It’s all a big production…..and so many of you are falling for it. Wake up!”
Journalists quickly jumped in to debunk the fantasy. Shayan Sardarizadeh, a BBC reporter who covers online disinformation, tweeted a set of photos showing the president and the microphone from several different vantage points.
“There are multiple videos of the exchange taken from other angles as well as images. Obviously, there’s no green screen or CGI at play,” Mr Sardarizadeh wrote with some exasperation. “And, yes, Biden is alive and real…”
Steve Herman, the reporter who actually held the infamous microphone, was even more blunt.
“I was the one holding the lighter-colored fuzzy microphone and thus literally in front of
@POTUS on the South Lawn,” the Voice of America journalist tweeted. “It’s all real. Who actually believes this ‘faked moon landing’ type nonsense and more importantly who is spreading it?”
Aside from the microphone illusion, the South Lawn video is actually quite dull. Mr Biden approaches a gaggle of reporters outside the White House, and one asks him if he plans to visit the southern border.
“Not at the moment,” the president replies.
“I’ll let you know,” Mr Biden answers, and then he walks away.
By all accounts of those who were present, Mr Biden – not a body double, not an animation – was indeed there. The only thing superimposed was the conspiracies.
