An awkwardness four days before the second round of regional elections? Patrick Karam, who represents himself on the list of Valérie Pécresse in Île de France, challenged Audrey Pulvar and Julien Bayou, left candidates in these elections, Wednesday evening.
The regional councilor asked them to remove an image that shows Audrey Pulvar, Julien Bayou and Clémentine Autain walking with an explosion behind them. He explained that this image of an explosion would come from “an attack in Afrin in Syria”, an attack which left “ten dead”.
Clémentine Autain, elected LFI, Audrey Pulvar, candidate for the PS, merged their lists with that of Julien Bayou, EELV, for the second round of regional, which takes place on Sunday.
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The montage was created on Tuesday by journalist Léo Lefrançois. He hijacked a real photo showing the three candidates exiting a metro station, adding a screenshot to it an explosion video on YouTube.
The video “was produced in a controlled manner by professionals”, specified the reporter Wednesday night on Twitter. “These words and these accusations are very serious,” he added in response to Patrick Karam’s tweet.
The video was posted in 2013 on YouTube, where it has been viewed over 11 million times. It was carried out by two Britons on a former military base. These YouTubers are known for filming slow motion experiences.
However, a screenshot of this same video has been used in 2018 by a Russian site to illustrate an article on an explosion in the Syrian city of Afrin. The site does not specify the source of the image, which could have misled Valérie Pécresse’s running mate. He deleted his tweet late Thursday morning.