CLAIM
A video clip of an interview of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan with MSNBC, an American news channel, was tweeted by former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag with a claim that Khan was told by one of the interviewers that he sounds like a “welder from the Bronx.”
The archived version of the tweet can be viewed here.
The caption along with the video reads: “You sound like a welder from the Bronx, says the anchor. After the pathetic speech in the UN a few days ago, this man seems to be inventing new ways to humiliate himself.”
Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Youth Affairs and Sports and Minister of State for Minority Affairs also commented on the Sehwag’s tweet, saying: “To the point @virendersehwag bhai (sic).”
The video is also viral on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim, that the anchor says that Khan sounds like a “welder” from Bronx is false. In the viral video, it can be clearly heard that the anchor is saying that Khan sounds like a “voter from Bronx.”
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We searched for the full video of the interview, on the YouTube handle of MSNBC, and found a video uploaded on 26 September with the caption ‘Pakistani PM Open To President Donald Trump's Help In Kashmir’.
At 13:18 minutes in the video, Khan compares infrastructure of China to that of the United States. He says, “While America was pouring money in Afghanistan in futile war, Chinese were developing first world infrastructure.”
Imran Khan further mentioned that he witnessed car bumps in New York, to which the anchor jokingly replied that that he doesn’t sound like the PM of Pakistan, but rather like a “voter” from Bronx.
Hence, the word “voter” is being misinterpreted as “welder” and is being shared with a false claim on social media.
NEWS OUTLETS GOT IT WRONG
Several media outlets carried articles, reporting the same, based on Sehwag’s tweet.
The archived version of the report can be read here.
The archived version of the story can be read here.
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