Claim:
A video authentically shows Tim Walz giving the middle finger to heckling fans at the Minnesota-Michigan college football game on Sept. 28, 2024.
Rating:
Miscaptioned ( About this rating? )
Context:
Walz did not give the middle finger to fans. While one fan yelled, "Trump 2024, baby!" a higher-quality version of the video showed Walz raised his index finger — not his middle finger — to point to a different, unseen person.
Just three days ahead of the 2024 U.S. vice-presidential debate, online users claimed a four-second, low-quality video showed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — the Democratic vice-presidential nominee — giving the middle finger to heckling college football fans as he exited the field at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
For example, on Sept. 29, the day after the game, X user @amuse — who has a record of posting unreliable content — posted ( archived ) the video, in which Walz looks up to fans as a man offscreen apparently yells, "Trump 2024, baby!" seemingly close to the person recording the video. The X user claimed the video showed Walz " flipped off a student" who yelled. The end of the post also said Walz gave the supposed student "the proverbial middle finger and a 'go f*** yourself.'"
The post from @amuse reposted a previous post ( archived ) from @greg_price11, who wrote, "A Michigan fan yelled Trump 2024 at Tampon Tim and he gave him the middle finger." The "Tampon Tim" nickname referenced a misleading rumor claiming Walz signed a bill requiring schools to stock tampons in boys' bathrooms.
Turning Point USA founder and president Charlie Kirk posted ( archived ) on X of the video, "Tim Walz gets heckled by students at the Michigan game and then appears to flip off the students. Really showing his ex-teacher, vice presidential maturity getting rattled by some college kids. Weak!"
Other users on numerous social media websites discussed the video about Walz supposedly giving the middle finger, including conservative political commentator Tim Pool, who dismissed the rumor, saying that "it's reaching," "silly" and "ridiculous." He also added, "It is my belief Tim Walz did not flip anybody off. That's an absurdity. Of course he did not."
Pool was correct.
The truth of the matter was Walz extended his index finger — not his middle finger — to point in a direction far away from the man apparently yelling, "Trump 2024, baby!" Further, had Walz given the middle finger in front of members of the press , campaign staff, stadium workers, security personnel and fans pointing their smartphone cameras in the direction of Walz, then credible journalists would have reported the news. None did. As such, we have labeled this video as incorrectly captioned. (As of this writing, we were not able to definitively authenticate whether or not the "Trump 2024, baby!" audio originated with the same video clip. Users sometimes replace the audio in videos either to mislead or as a joke, as we'll discuss at the end of this story.)
Examining a Higher-Quality Version of the Video
To come to our conclusion that Walz didn't show his middle finger to the crowd, we downloaded and scrubbed each frame of a higher-quality version of the same video posted on Facebook . Despite its still-incorrect caption, that post's video provided a clearer look at the moment Walz extended his index finger to point to the crowd with not a rude gesture but rather a gracious one.
The difference in quality between the lower-quality version of the video shared in many posts and the higher-quality clip onFacebook can be seen below:
The line between Walz's tucked thumb and extended index finger is visible in the higher-quality version of the video.
Readers can perform the same research we did by downloading the Facebook video and reviewing each frame to study when Walz extended his finger and then retracted it.
Relevant Photo Posted by Walz on Social Media
As of this writing, it was not clear who originally captured the popular video or on which website it originated. It should be noted that Walz or his staff posted on his Facebook , Instagram and X accounts a photo of him extending his index finger to the crowd. That constituted a second instance of pointing, occurring within about one second of the pointing shown in the popular video. (The person who recorded the video might be the man in the yellow rain poncho on the left side of the screen. His camera is pointed down, as if he possibly just finished the recording of the video.)
This photo posted on social media by Walz's campaign shows Walz pointing his index finger a second time, about one second after the moment featured in the popular video.
Trump Visited Georgia-Alabama Football Game on Same Day
On the same day Walz visited Michigan Stadium, former U.S. President Donald Trump attended the high-profile matchup of Georgia at Alabama. Some users shared videos of some fans outside Michigan Stadium booing Walz's motorcade and compared those clips to others showing fans cheering for Trump at Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium. After all, the Advance Local news website — better known as AL.com — credibly reported, "Trump was met with cheers when he arrived at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa."
At least one additional video claimed to feature fans booing Trump at the Georgia-Alabama game. However, the user who posted that video sourced sound from an unrelated clip .
Sources:
Gann, Heather, and William Thornton. "Donald Trump at Alabama-Georgia Game: Full Coverage from Bryant-Denny Stadium." AL.com , 28 Sept. 2024, https://www.al.com/news/2024/09/donald-trump-at-the-alabama-georgia-game-latest-updates-from-tuscaloosa.html .
Hogg, Dave. "No. 12 Michigan Holds off Minnesota in 4th Quarter to Win 27-24 and Retain Little Brown Jug." The Associated Press , 28 Sept. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/michigan-minnesota-college-football-score-89313e626875e8840ac010e4b72f52dd .
Ibendahl, Doug. "No Class. And No Brains. Tim Walz Flips off Crowd at Michigan-Minnesota Game on Saturday." Facebook , 29 Sept. 2024, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=902843305079843 .
"RAW VIDEO: Tim Walz at Minnesota vs. Michigan Football Game." YouTube , WAAY 31 News, 28 Sept. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSK_esvzNBQ .
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