A video circulating online appears to show Maui residents chanting a highly offensive slogan at Joe Biden as he toured wildfire-hit Hawaii. But the clip's audio has been manipulated; the original footage of the US president walking past decimated cars features no expletive-laden chant.
"Sleepy Joe landed in #Hawaii. The entire population there are shouting - 'Fk Joe Biden.' #MauiFires," says an August 21, 2023 post sharing the video on Twitter, which has rebranded as "X."
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Similar posts spread in multiple languages across X and other platforms, including Facebook, TikTok and Telegram, after Biden traveled to Hawaii on August 21 to tour the deadliest wildfires the United States has seen in more than a century.
The Democrat's visit came nearly two weeks after the historic town of Lahaina was leveled, killing at least 114 people.
But the clip has been altered to add the insulting chant. It appears to have originated with "il Donaldo Trumpo," a popular pro-Donald Trump account that has previously shared other videos targeting Biden with similarly manipulated audio.
The footage is lifted from C-SPAN, which posted an identical recording to X of Biden walking alongside First Lady Jill Biden, Hawaii Governor Josh Green and Hawaii First Lady Jaime Green (archived here).
The C-SPAN video shows the group passing the same charred car ruins as they walked toward a podium where Biden spoke, but it does not feature any chanting of expletives.
No such chant is audible in footage of the same moment captured by AFP and other news organizations, including The Washington Post.
AFP contacted the White House for comment, but no response was forthcoming.
An AFP photojournalist who captured photos and video on the ground in Maui also observed no protesters or anti-Biden chanting as the president surveyed the damage and approached the outdoor podium.
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The journalist did see some people display middle-finger gestures as Biden's motorcade drove by, as well as one person holding a placard that said "FJB" -- an abbreviation for the explicit slogan.
Pool reporters who traveled with Biden's motorcade also said the convoy passed some residents carrying signs of support and others with anti-Biden placards.
AFP previously debunked other misinformation about Biden's Hawaii visit here.
