Fact Check

Is This a Real Pic of Zelenskyy in LGBTQ Pride Parade?

A digitally edited photo purports to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sporting short shorts and an Afro hairdo at an LGBTQ Pride event.

by David Emery, Published Dec. 23, 2022


Manipulated image purports to show Volodymyr Zelenskyy in drag at LGBTQ event.

Image courtesy of Twitter screenshot


Claim:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was photographed wearing short shorts and an Afro hairdo at an LGBTQ Pride event.
Rating:
False

About this rating


In the latter half of 2022, a doctored photograph purporting to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participating in an LGBTQ Pride parade wearing nothing but short shorts and a gigantic Afro hairdo circulated on social media. Although the face of the person alleged to be Zelenskyy does resemble him, however, he did not appear in the original, unmanipulated picture. This is an example of the edited photograph as posted on Twitter:

This is not Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

This is a cropped version of that edited photo, showing what appears to be Zelenskyy's face superimposed over that of the original subject: 

Fake Zelenskyy pic

A reverse-image search reveals that the original photograph was taken by Thomas Hobbs in 2006 and posted by the photographer on Flickr. Though the identity of the subject in question wasn't specified, it is clearly not Volovymyr Zelenskyy. 

Gay Pride parade 2006 (Thomas Hobbs/Flickr)


By David Emery

David Emery is a West Coast-based writer and editor with 25 years of experience fact-checking rumors, hoaxes, and contemporary legends.


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