`Dead man' smoking: Mannequins passed off as Covid victims

A video showing a man puffing cigarette amongst a pile of COVID victims, is viral on social media. Users are trying....

By Satya Priya BN  Published on  13 April 2021 4:58 AM GMT
Covid victims

A video showing a man puffing cigarette amongst a pile of COVID victims, is viral on social media. Users are trying to underscore that COVID crisis is a media conspiracy and a possible "fraud to scandalize" the pandemic situation.

"कोरोना की ये है सच्चाई ?**मीडीया मे कोरोना वायरस कि तबाही को जनता को कैसे डराया जारहा है खुद देख लीजिये ॥* *लाशो को ठिकाने लगाने और मिडिया मे पेश करने का ड्रामा शुरू करने से पहले एक लाश सिगरेट पिते हुए,"reads the message on social media

"Is this the truth of Corona? See how media is scaring the public. A body puffed cigarette before starting the drama of disposing off the corona victims (sic)," reads its English translation



Archive links:

https://web.archive.org/save/https://twitter.com/CongresParitam/status/1380158363582017541

https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.facebook.com/100000533077231/videos/4412741638753562/

This claim implies that the video shows fake corpses and media is using it to create terror about the COVID-19 situation in the world

Fact Check:

The claim that the video shows fake COVID-19 corpses projected in the media is FALSE.

When the keyframes extracted from the video are searched using Google Reverse image search, we found a fact check by a Portuguese website https://omunicipiojoinville.com/, with a title FAKE - Video showing a man smoking in a black bag is not a "pandemic fraud".

The fact check clarifies that the videos, which were taken from the Russian director Vasya Ivanov's Tik Tok app, are actually the making of the music video for the song Never Ever, by the Russian rap artist Husky.

https://omunicipiojoinville.com/fake-video-mostrando-homem-fumando-dentro-de-saco-preto-nao-e-fraude-da-pandemia/

The images were recorded at the end of 2020. The clip in question is available on YouTube. (Very graphical video – Watch with discretion)


According to the fact check by AFP.com, the filming of the music video was covered by Russian media organization Ren.tv on September 4, 2020. Mannequins wrapped in body bags were used for the music video, Ren.tv reported.

Ren TV report states the video was shot using mannequins as corpses hanging from a wall, for Husky's music video.

Here is the Google street view of the street where we can see the building near which the video was shot.

Therefore, the video does not show fake COVID-19 corpses. It was taken from a music video shot in 2020 and is shared with a FALSE narrative. The claim is FALSE.


Claim Review:Man puffing cigarette amongst a pile of COVID victims
Claimed By:Social Media Users
Claim Reviewed By:Newsmeter
Claim Source:Social Media
Claim Fact Check:False
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