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| - Fact Check: Vir Das or Vir Abdullah Das? Edited Wiki page screenshot viral after actor's US gig
A screenshot of actor-comedian Vir Das's Wikipedia page has gone viral, which shows his full name as "Vir Abdullah Das". Many are sharing the screenshot with claims that Das is actually a Muslim. India Today's AFWA probes the truth.
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India Today Fact Check
The screenshot is of his edited Wikipedia page. His actual name is Vir Das and he is a Hindu.
Actor-comedian Vir Das’s stand-up performance on the “Two Indias” he hails from has divided the Internet. The gig at the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, United States, saw Das taking a dig at crime and pollution in India, among others.
While many lauded him for speaking the truth, others were left fuming at India’s “insult” on a global platform. Amid this, an alleged screenshot of Das’s Wikipedia page has gone viral, which shows the actor’s full name as “Vir Abdullah Das”. Many are sharing the screenshot with claims that Das is actually a Muslim.
A Twitter user posted the said screenshot with a caption in Hindi which translates to, “The real name of the comedian who went to America and said objectionable things about Hindu and India is Vir Abdullah Das.”
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that neither is Vir’s full name Vir Abdullah Das nor is he a Muslim. The actor’s PR has also confirmed this to us. Vir’s Wikipedia profile was heavily edited on November 16 and 17, but most of the changes were reverted within a few minutes. His name was changed to “Vir Abdullah Das” for a few minutes.
AFWA probe
The viral screenshot shows the small info-box panel often found on the top right corner of Wikipedia pages. We found that not only the current version of Das’s Wikipedia page but even in the older versions from 2020, 2015 and 2010, his name is mentioned as just “Vir Das”.
As per a 2019 report published in “The Wall Street Journal”,
We did not find any evidence of the actor being a Muslim.
To sum up, a screenshot of Vir Das’s edited Wikipedia page is being circulated to falsely claim that he is a Muslim.
Update: After this story was published, we found that Vir Das’s Wikipedia profile was heavily edited on November 16 and 17. His name was changed to Vir Abdullah Das, and even this line was added to his profile: “He doesn’t know about father he have doubt on many people and he made pregnant his sister at age of 12 and he went jail”. Most of the changes were reverted within a few minutes. We have made changes in the story according to this input.
READ: 5 times Vir Das courted controversy prior to viral '2 Indias' monologue
WATCH: Uproar over Vir Das's monologue on India: Why are politicians scared of standup comedians?
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