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No, a child did not yell an expletive during Jill Biden’s remarks at a Diwali reception

A video viewed more than 500,000 times on Twitter claims to show a child cursing at First Lady Jill Biden during a Diwali reception. The video was edited.
Credit: Screenshot/Twitter

Editor’s note: Video content contains profanity.

On Oct. 24, the White House hosted a Diwali celebration for more than 200 people in the East Room, with President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris all in attendance.

Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is one of the major religious festivals in Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism and symbolizes the victory of light over darkness.

After Monday’s celebration, a video went viral appearing to show First Lady Jill Biden giving remarks about the festival, and at the end of the 19-second clip, a child can be heard shouting profanities. The video had more than 500,000 views on Twitter, as of Oct. 26.

More from VERIFY: Video of First Lady at Eagles game manipulated to include audible boos, anti-Biden chants

THE QUESTION

Did a child yell an expletive at First Lady Jill Biden during the White House Diwali celebration?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

This is false.

No, a child did not yell an expletive during Jill Biden’s remarks at a Diwali reception. The video shared on social media was edited to include unrelated audio. 

WHAT WE FOUND

In the viral clip, First Lady Jill Biden can be heard saying, “When we realize that even the smallest flame can illuminate our path home. That the sweetest delicacies are made with love. That the most rewarding gifts are those we give to others.”

At the end of the clip, a young child appears to shout “shut the f*** up” and other crowd noises can be heard. But, the audio from the child was lifted from another video clip and placed on top of the video of Biden giving her remarks.

Audio of the child yelling can be traced back to at least 2019, when “an angry little kid” went viral for yelling profanity at his teacher during a preschool graduation. 

To confirm the audio was manipulated, VERIFY compared the viral clip to the original White House footage from the event. 

Beginning at the 28-second mark of the White House video from the Diwali event, Biden says the same sentence that can be heard in the shorter viral clip, but there is no audio of a child shouting profanities. 

This is not the first time this audio of a child yelling has been edited into a video clip of an event featuring the first lady. In December 2021, we VERIFIED a child was not heard swearing at Biden during a holiday book reading.

More from VERIFY: No, a child did not yell an expletive during Jill Biden’s book reading

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