CLAIM: A video published by USA Today reports that a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly got into a “drunken brawl” on Sept. 21 at The Campbell, a bar in New York City.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. USA Today did not make the video, a spokesperson for the news outlet said, and both the bar and the New York City Police Department confirmed that no such incident occurred.
THE FACTS: As the U.N. meets in New York this week, a video pushing a false story about Ukraine’s delegation is being shared by social media accounts, including one affiliated with the Russian government.
The video features the USA Today logo at the top of the screen and different scenes cut together, including footage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as low quality footage of a fight on the street. “A member of Ukraine’s delegation has staged a drunken brawl in a bar in New York,” reads the text in the video.
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The video goes on to claim that on Sept. 21, a “security officer of the Ukrainian delegation” required customers to shout “Glory to Ukraine” and attacked a bartender, before police detained everyone involved in “the bar fight.”
The video was shared by multiple accounts on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, including the official account of the Russian Embassy in South Africa.
But none of the events claimed in the video actually happened, and it was not published by USA Today.
Olivia Meyers, a spokesperson with the Gerber Group, which owns The Campbell, said the incident described in the video did not take place.
“The video was fake and no incident took place in or around The Campbell,” Meyers said in an email.
The NYPD also confirmed to The Associated Press that there was no report on file matching the information in the video.
Additionally, while the clip does show images that match the inside of The Campbell, the footage of showing an altercation on a street does not match any of the features outside of the venue.
Lark-Marie Anton, chief communications officer at Gannett, which owns USA Today, confirmed in a statement to the AP that the video was not published by the outlet.
“The video circulating on X (formerly Twitter) using the USA TODAY logo and branding is fake. We have filed a claim on false information with the platform to halt the immediate spread of misinformation,” the statement reads. The outlet also shared its own fact-check on the fabricated video.
There is no record of any other news outlet reporting on such an event, either.
The Russian Embassy in South Africa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
