No, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy didn’t go to Pride wearing Afro wig and short shorts
Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not attend a 1999 NYC Pride event. (Getty)
A photo of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a Pride event has been doing the rounds, and no, it’s not real.
The digitally edited photo claims to depict the former actor at a 1999 New York Pride event, wearing nothing but a pair of short shorts and a fake Afro wig.
As unabashedly iconic as the photo is, there is no evidence of Zelenskyy having attended an NYC Pride parade.
According to the fact-checking website Snopes, the original image was taken in 2006 and is available on Flickr.
While the identity of the individual is not specified, Snopes clarified that it is not Zelenskyy.
The doctored image superimposed the Ukrainian president’s face on the image with the purpose of spreading anti-LGBTQ+ scepticism about the US funding Ukrainian war efforts.
The image reads: “American taxpayers are beginning to realise to whom their [billions] of dollars are going… Going… GONE.”
In actuality, Zelenskyy spent much of his time in 1999 working with his very own television production company Kvartal 95 on various projects.
He worked closely with the comedy studio until 2003 when he began his career in the film and TV industry.
There, he began working in various films including Love in the Big City, 8 First Dates, and even recorded the voice of Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian dub of Paddington and Paddington 2.
Despite not actually going all out during a Pride event, Zelenskyy has done plenty to further LGBTQ+ rights in the region.
The Ukrainian government passed an LGBTQ+ hate speech ban in December as part of the country’s steps towards equality.
Additionally, Zelenskyy has vowed to look into legalising same-sex marriage after Russia’s invasion comes to an end.
His plea comes after a petition calling for marriage equality in the country gained more than 28,000 signatures.
In an official decree in August, he said: “I asked prime minister [Denys] Shmyhal to address the issue raised in the electronic petition and to inform me of relevant decisions.”
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