Footage which shows how a woman removes an LGBT flag in the classroom and quarrels with another woman, purportedly the history teacher, has been disseminated widely in social media (archived video link).
The other woman, purportedly an angry parent, says the following at some point in the footage: “Why do you have this hanging up? It is not part of anything. We are paying you to teach history and that’s what you need to be teaching. This [points at a flag]. This needs to go exactly where it is – in the garbage. I’m teaching my son to grow up to be a man and I don’t want you hanging up a flag and teaching them the type of stuff I’m trying to keep them away from. You need to be teaching history.”
The post has a description: “Parents are fed up with LGBT propaganda at schools.”
As a result of the verification of the footage, it was revealed that the scene is staged and it does not show a real classroom. The video, entitled “Mother Tears Down Pride Flag,” was initially posted on 16 September 2023 by the Jibrizy Facebook account.
Of note is that Jibrizy, which recorded the footage and uploaded it in social networks for the first time, is an authentic Facebook account. In the section About Me, the owner of the page is a director who shoots videos on popular topics resembling real situations. The account is said to be humorous.
In the full video, the actors participating in the sketch say (6:27) that everything in the video is staged (“This is all the skit”) and ask Facebook users to share their opinions about the situation they watched. At the same time, the footage shows a woman who is playing the role of an angry parent.
In addition, the fact that footage published by the Jibrizy Facebook account is staged is further attested to by the fact that actors in the footage play different roles in various videos. For instance, the woman who plays the role of the parent angry about “LGBT propaganda” at schools plays the role of a teacher in another video.
This footage was initially disseminated across the United States and attracted wide commentary. This video was shared by many social media users, including politicians, without giving the context and the situation in the footage was perceived as a real situation in American schools. The video was verified by independent fact-checking organisations which concluded that the footage does in fact not show a real classroom in a US school but is a staged situation instead. See the links: 1,2,3,4.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article was produced as part of Facebook’s Fact-checkingProgramme. Given the rating, Facebook may impose different restrictions – clickherefor full information. For information on issuing a correction or to dispute a rating, please seehere.
