A video has gone viral that claims to show vice presidential candidate Governor Tim Walz dancing to a Beyonce song, wearing a leather crop top and pants, along with a red cowboy hat. Social media users have since been trying to find out the authenticity of the viral video.
In early September 2024, just under two months before the 2024 presidential election, the video went viral claiming to show Walz dancing in a leather crop top, Beyonce's Texas Hold 'Em. The clip, which has circulated widely on social media, has led to heated debates about the veracity of digital content and the role of artificial intelligence in shaping political narratives.
The Wild Claim
The video, shared on TikTok and spreading like wildfire on X, features a man with a blurred face but resembling the Minnesota governor, dancing energetically with their midriff exposed.
The caption reads, "VP candidate Walz of the 'free world' OMFG... Help us..."
However, the video is fake. The video was manipulated and does not actually feature Walz. It was taken from a dancer's Instagram account and altered to make the leather-clad man's facial features appear as Walz's.
Using Google's reverse-image search, the video's origin was found and there was no real evidence linking Walz to it. The face in the video was heavily blurred but became clearer when the man moved, suggesting that Walz's face had been superimposed onto the original subject.
AI-General Fake Claim
Many commenters identified the unedited version of the video as originating from the Instagram account of Matthew Krumpe, a dancer and drag artist. This original footage was posted in February 2024, well before Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaign and her announcement of Walz as her running mate in August 2024.
The video features the same dance, song, outfit, and background, but with the original, unblurred features of Krumpe. Krumpe also confirmed to fact checking website Snopes that the video, filmed on a cruise in February, belonged to him.
The original caption in Krumpe's video read, "This ain't Texas, and if anyone walks into my shot again im quitting making content and jumping off this boat."
It's evident that the original, unaltered video was uploaded prior to Harris and Walz joining the election race and was extensively manipulated before it went viral. The claim is thus labeled 'fake."
