Fact Check: No ‘India, India’ Chants During JD Vance’s Entry to Republican National Convention; Edited Clip Viral
Vishvas News found in its investigation that this video is edited. There were no chants of ‘India, India’ during JD Vance’s entry into the GOP convention. The original audio had Merle Haggard’s song ‘America First’ playing.
- By Vishvas News
- Updated: July 23, 2024
New Delhi (Vishvas News). The US Presidential elections are to be held on November 5, 2024. Amidst the round of debates and political campaigns, a video is going viral on social media featuring Republican vice-presidential candidate James David Vance arriving for a convention. Chants of ‘India India’ are also heard in the background in the video. The post claims that JD Vance was greeted with these slogans while coming to the Republican National Convention, linking it with his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance’s Indian roots.
In its investigation, Vishvas News found that this video was edited and the original audio featured Merle Haggard’s song ‘America First’.
What is viral?
X user ‘Texan AF’ (Archive) shared this video on July 16, 2024, and wrote “‘India India’ chants as JD Vance brings soon-to-be second lady Usha Chilukuri into the RNC convention”
Investigation
To find the source of the viral video, we used Google reverse image search. We found a video on the YouTube channel of The Wall Street Journal, which was the full version of the viral video. The clip was uploaded on July 16, 2024. The description of the video read, “Watch: J.D. Vance Is Nominated as Vice Presidential Nominee at the RNC | WSJ ” In this video, it is evident that during the time of the viral visuals, “India India” slogans were not being chanted; instead, a different song was playing.
Upon searching the lyrics of the song, we found that it is a song by singer Merle Haggard, named – ‘America First’.
On searching with keywords, we also found a news report from The Independent about this song being played on his entry. The headline reads, “JD Vance shows off his new walk-on music – a Merle Haggard song about ‘liberating’ America.”
We reached out to journalist JP Ranjan, who covers international news for Dainik Jagran and he confirmed that the audio accompanying the video was edited. He added, “Merle Haggard’s song ‘America First’ was played during JD Vance’s entry into the RNC conference.”
The viral post was shared by an X user named Texan AF. The user has about 1000 followers.
Conclusion: Vishvas News found in its investigation that this video is edited. There were no chants of ‘India, India’ during JD Vance’s entry into the GOP convention. The original audio had Merle Haggard’s song ‘America First’ playing.