Bigots are spreading conspiracy theories that gay people caused coronavirus using an old video from a Brazilian carnival
Screenshots from Twitter
Social media users are claiming that LGBT+ people caused Italy’s coronavirus outbreak by holding a “gay conference” – but it never actually happened.
Video footage that social media users claim shows the “gay conference” has been shared thousands of times on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Anti-LGBT+ users have wrongly suggested that the video shows a gay party in Italy, claiming it took place just before COVID-19 hit.
One Facebook user shared the video and wrote: “God has every right to be angry with humanity, this was the last gay conference in Italy before the virus attack. Let’s continue to pray for His mercy to prevail over judgment, just see what is going on couple with innocent blood crying for revenge.”
AFP‘s fact-checking service discovered the true origins of the video using reverse image search technology. They discovered a number of tweets from February of this year suggesting that the video actually showed the Bahian Carnival in Brazil.
No, the video does not show ‘the last gay conference in Italy’ before the coronavirus outbreak.
They were also able to confirm that the music playing in the video is a popular Brazilian carnival song called “Minha pequena Eva”.
By researching the words written on the colourful t-shirts worn by attendees, AFP determined that the video footage was actually recorded at a street party called Bloco Crocodilo.
Italy has been one of the worst hit countries in the world by the COVID-19 outbreak. More than 150,000 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus there and more than 20,000 have died.
More than 1.8 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 across the world.
There are now more than 1.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, and more than 100,000 people have died.
More than 500,000 of the world’s cases are in the United States, with the majority of those in New York. It is now considered to be the epicentre of the virus.
This is not the first time the LGBT+ community has been blamed for the spread of COVID-19. Right-wing activists and religious leaders across the world have tried to pin the pandemic on the queer community since the outbreak began.
