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| - Fact Check: No, Trump did not pay tribute to singer Madonna instead of Maradona
While the world is still reeling under the loss of loved ones in the year 2020, Wednesday (November 25) proved to be a rather sad day for football lovers and the sports fraternity at large.
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India Today Fact Check
Conclusion – US president Donald J Trump has not tweeted any such tribute. The screenshot of a tweet shared on social media is morphed.
While the world is still reeling under the loss of loved ones in the year 2020, Wednesday (November 25) proved to be a rather sad day for football lovers and the sports fraternity at large.
Tributes poured in from all over the world as legendary Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona breathed his last (Football legend Maradona passes away at 60 due to cardiac arrest) on Wednesday. Maradona died due to a heart attack, according to various media reports.
Amidst it, a screenshot of US President Donald Trump’s tweet for Maradona has set the internet ablaze. According to the screenshot, Trump allegedly confused the Argentinian footballer Maradona for the American singer - Madonna.
The tweet reads, “Very sad to hear about the death of Maradona. A great person. Her music was wonderful. I remember listening to her albums in the early 1980s. Rest In Peace!”
A user shared this screenshot with the caption, “Donald Trump is still in his delusional state of mind after losing the US president election. He's so confused not only on the election result but also the death of Diego Maradona that he thought it was Madonna the American singer and songwriter!”
The archived version of this post can be seen here
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the viral screenshot is morphed. Donald Trump has not made any such statement.
This claim is quite viral on Facebook.
A user shared the viral tweet with the caption, “Ok Trump for your info...Maradona was a legend - one of the best soccer players. Not a she - Madonna - the 80’s singer.” Another wrote, “Hello, Maradona the football player passed on and not Madonna the singer.”
AFWA PROBE
As a matter of fact, we did not find any tweet by Donald J Trump’s verified Twitter account in which he had mistakenly offered a tribute to Madonna instead of Diego Maradona.
Even after Diego Maradona’s death was announced, Donald Trump’s Twitter account only had tweets focusing on the news about the results of the US Presidential elections.
DIGITAL FORENSICS OF THE VIRAL TWEET
While comparing the viral screenshot with Trump’s original tweets, we found several discrepancies like-
1. Unlike in original tweets, in the viral tweet, the handle @realDonaldTrump is not visible and appears to be hidden.
2.There is no date and time stamp in the viral tweet.
3.The font of the viral tweet is different from the original Twitter font.
4.The place where ‘Twitter for iPhone’/ ‘Twitter for Android’/ ‘Twitter for Windows’ label appears is also vacant in the viral tweet.
5.The terms ‘Retweets’, ‘Quote Tweets’ and ‘Likes’ - which represent the number of times a certain tweet is reposted or liked by people - is also missing in the viral tweet.
MARADONA REFUSED ENTRY INTO THE US
Maradona tested positive for using banned drug ephedrine in the 1994 World Cup in the US. Subsequently, he lost his visa and never set foot in the United States again. While giving an interview to a Venezuelan TV channel TeleSur, Maradona called Donald Trump a ‘chirolita’ - slang for dummy/puppet. The Mirror had reported about this interview on February 2018.
Following this comment, Maradona was refused entry to the US, as reported by ‘The Sun’
However, the viral tweet allegedly a tribute to Maradona by Trump is a morphed screenshot. Trump did not make any such statement after Maradona passed away.
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