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| - Fact Check: This giant Pride rainbow on Paris monument is NOT real, it's 3D animation
India Today's investigation found that the 'installation' on the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile was digitally created by visual artist Ian Padgham.
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India Today Fact Check
This is not a real installation. The rainbow structure was created by a visual artist using 3D animation tools.
June marks Pride Month in the US. Of course, this celebration of LGBTQIA+ people and culture has transcended American borders and now people across the world participate in it. Often during this month, in many parts of the world, rainbow Pride flags and buntings and banners are displayed publicly and prominently. One such purported display in France, however, seems to have caused some outrage online.
Photos and videos of a rainbow installation wrapped around the Arc de Triomphe de l'toile — the Triumphal Arch of the Star — in Paris, France, have been widely shared, and with some disdain. One person tweeted, "Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France This is how we respect the courage of the heroes who died in various wars."
Others shared a short clip showing this and wrote, "The Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the landmark, which holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, has been covered with a giant pride rainbow as well as a trans coloured square and a giant cloud with the words ‘Marche Des Fiertes’ which translates as Pride March." The archived versions of such tweets can be seen here, here, and here.
The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous monuments in the world. It was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806, after his victory at the Battle of Austerlitz.
India Today's investigation found that the installation of the giant rainbow on the Arc de Triomphe was not real. It was CGI.
Our Probe
A keyword search on the internet led us to various news reports, where the viral video was called animated or AI-generated. They also mentioned that it was created by an artist called Ian Padgham.
A reverse search of keyframes of the viral video led us to the Instagram account of Padgham, a professional visual artist from California who lives in France. We found that he had shared the video in question on June 1, 2023, on his Instagram.
Its caption read: "Happy #pride2023 to everyone, everywhere Love is love, you are beautiful, and I am so proud to live in a world where we are fighting so that everyone can live their life exactly as they are #parisestfiere #marchedesfiertes #pridemonth."
We also found many similar 3D animated artworks on his Instagram.
We then reached out to Padgham to know more about the video. He said that he had made the video. The rainbow installation, he said, was created using 3D animation tools. He added, "It does not exist in real life."
Thus, it is clear that the viral video is not real, but a work of 3D animation.
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