Did Cristiano Ronaldo extend support to Palestine? No, old video falsely viral

by Oishani Bhattacharya

A video of Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is viral on social media with the claim that he is expressing his support for Palestine amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. At the time of writing this report, the combined death toll in Gaza and Israel stands at over 7,200.

X (formerly Twitter) Blue user Naeem Chaudhary (@naeemkhtr322) shared the above-mentioned video of the Portuguese footballer on October 14 with the following caption: “🚨🚨 :: Ronaldo Stand with Palestine Whole World stand with Palestine Free Free Palestine #Ronaldo𓃵 #Palestine #Israel #Gazagenocide #Isarael #IsraelPalestineConflict #palastine #غزة_الآن #طوفان_الاقصى_ #GazaUnderAttack #FreeGaza #Hamas #PalestineUnderAttack”. The tweet has received over 49,000 views and has been retweeted over 100 times. (Archive)

Another X Blue user, Noor (@zalimhun_), too, shared the same 20-second viral clip of Cristiano Ronaldo with a similar caption as above. The tweet has received over 12,000 views. (Archive)

Several other users have shared this clip of Ronaldo on X and Facebook claiming that in the video he is extending his support to Palestine.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fact Check

On carefully listening to the audio in the viral 20-second clip, we found that at the beginning of the video Ronaldo says: “Hello, this is for children of Syria”. Taking a hint from this, we ran a relevant keyword search that led us to a Facebook post from the official page of Cristiano Ronaldo from 2016. The post consists of the same viral video and the caption says: “A message of hope to the children affected by the conflict in Syria. @SavetheChildren”. The post also mentioned ‘Save The Children’ which is an international charity organisation working for children’s rights across the world.

A message of hope to the children affected by the conflict in Syria. @SavetheChildren

Posted by Cristiano Ronaldo on Friday, 23 December 2016

We also came across several media reports about this collaboration between Cristiano Ronaldo and Save The Children foundation. Apart from making the video to extend his support to the children in Syria, he also made a ‘generous donation’ to provide ‘life-saving aid’ to children in conflict zones.

We found the video also on Ronaldo’s official X profile. The tweet was shared on December 23, 2016.

Hence, the claim that in the viral clip, Cristiano Ronaldo has extended his solidarity to Palestine is false. The video is from 2016 and was posted as a partnership project with the non-governmental organisation Save The Children to support the children in Syria.

Donate to Alt News!
Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people start contributing towards the same. Please consider donating towards this endeavour to fight fake news and misinformation.

Donate Now