An image of United States President-elect Joe Biden kneeling in front of a kid is going viral on the Internet with the claim that the Democrat leader tendered an apology to the daughter of late George Floyd.
Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, was suffocated to death by a white police officer in the mid-western US state of Minnesota on May 25, 2020.
The claim
Nigerian senator Dino Melaye was amongst the first ones to share the said picture on Twitter with the claim that it shows Biden apologising to Floyd's daughter publicly.
"American President-elect publicly apologises to the daughter of George Floyd, a black American who was murdered by racist white American policemen. On behalf of the entire American Government and Citizens, I hereby apologise for the untimely death of ur dad. Can mallam B do this?" read Melaye's caption. The post garnered more than 13,000 likes and over 1,900 retweets.
As a result, the image went viral as many believed it to be true and circulated it further. "Trump may wanna try this but I don't think he can kneel. Physically I mean. And then get up without toppling over," quipped one Twitter user.
Fact-check:
A reverse-image search revealed that the picture in question was originally shared by North America editor for Reuters Pictures, Corinne Perkins.
According to Perkins' tweet dated September 10, 2020, the image shows Biden speaking to a young boy named CJ Brown in Detroit, Michigan. The picture was clicked by Leah Millis, a senior photographer with Reuters, on September 9, 2020, when Biden was still the presidential nominee.
"Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks to CJ Brown as he makes a brief stop at "Three Thirteen" clothing store to buy a few items for his grandchildren while visiting Detroit, Michigan. Photo by @LeahMillis," read Perkins tweet.
Furthermore, Biden too had posted the same picture on his Instagram account on September 15, 2020, along with the caption, "Our children are a constant reminder of why I'm in this fight."
Therefore, it can be concluded that an old image of Biden's meeting with a kid is being falsely shared as him apologising to George Floyd's daughter.
