On July 8th, 2022, the Facebook page of ‘Mikheil Ukrainologist’ published a 38-second video of Giorgi Vashadze, the chairman of “Strategy Agmashenebeli”, visiting the “Secret Envelope” program. In the excerpt, the hostess asks Vashadze what the director of the sports store in Kutaisi used to call him and his brother, to which Vashadze’s answer is beeped, while the correct answer is shown to be “Y*e” [Georgian slang for D*ck] in the probable answers displayed on the screen.
A similar video was first published on Mikhail Ukrainologist’s YouTube channel on September 18th, 2020.
The video disseminated by Mikheil Ukrainologist is altered – the section when Vashadze says the nickname given to him is accompanied by a beep, which creates the impression that he is naming “Y*e” as his nickname. In fact, Giorgi Vashadze said that he was nicknamed Pele. Some of the captions have been edited in the video and are different from the captions shown in the authentic video.
The section of Giorgi Vashadze’s video published by the anti-opposition and pro-government Facebook page, Mikheil Ukrainologist, in which Vashadze says his nickname, features a sound signal of censorship, which is used to cover profanity on television. The video creates the impression that Vashadze named D*ck as his nickname, which is not true.
In the full program of ” Secret Envelope” on September 14th, 2020, Giorgi Vashadze says that the director of a sports store in Kutaisi called him Pele and his brother Garrincha. Giorgi Vashadze’s brother Davit Vashadze tells the story of the nickname in more detail.
In addition, the captions of the video published by Mikheil Ukrainologist are different from the authentic ones of the program. The new version shows the title of the section of probable answers. In the original video of ” Secret Envelope,” only the text of the question is displayed. It should be noted that the captions used in the video and the ones aired on Rustavi 2 have different designs. The video captions used in the video are in black and white, while the original video captions published on Rustavi 2’s website are orange and black.
The video aims to discredit Vashadze as a member of the opposition party.
Fabricated quotes in the name of Vashadze have been fact-checked by “Myth Detector” in the past as well. See:
- Facebook Account „Political Satire” Spreads a Fabricated Quote in the Name of Giorgi Vashadze
- Who Spreads the Fake Quote of Giorgi and Grigol Vashadze?
Mikheil Ukrainologist has disseminated false claims and fabricated quotes in the past as well. For details, see our fact-checks:
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