(Reuters) - Years-old audio of people chanting “We hate Catholics” has been dubbed into a clip of a Scottish soccer team celebrating a win and has been presented online as if the team chanted the phrase themselves at a match in 2024.
The video, shared on social media on Feb. 24, shows players with the Heart of Midlothian, a Scottish Premiership team, jumping and dancing around a dressing room, some whipping their shirts around their heads.
In the audio, a crowd is heard singing, “We hate Catholics, everybody hates Roman Catholics”, to the chorus of Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now”.
“I've just been sent this video from inside the Hearts dressing room from Ibrox. Is this real?!? #JamTarts #RangersFC,” a user sharing the clip on X wrote.
Referencing the team’s coach and several players, another user said: “Naismith, Shankland, McKay and Clark could be in trouble for leading these antics after the game. Can confirm this is genuine.”
Hearts of Midlothian played Rangers at Glasgow’s Ibrox Stadium on Feb. 24, but Reuters found no evidence that any such incident, as suggested in the altered video, occurred in the dressing room.
VERIFYING THE AUDIO
The audio dates to at least 2017 when it was shared with a different video of a crowd, some wearing Rangers shirts, who can be seen chanting in time with the song.
Local media reporting on the clip in 2017 said it emerged after Rangers, a team with a largely Protestant fanbase, lost 5-1 to Celtic, whose supporters are mostly Catholic.
The rivalry between the two clubs is long-running and deep-seated.
VERIFYING THE VISUALS
Reuters dated the video to Oct. 31, 2020, when it was posted to Instagram by Michael Smith, a former Hearts player, who is seen filming the clip.
The location tagged in Smith’s post says Hampden Park. The audio is different to that in the version circulated online in 2024 – the players are heard singing along to the Spanish-language song “La Bamba”.
The blue-tiled wall seen in the background of the Hearts’ video does not match photos of the home and away dressing rooms at Ibrox Stadium.
They do, however, match file photos and video of the dressing room at Hampden Park, another stadium in Glasgow.
“Heart of Midlothian can confirm that this video has been doctored,” a spokesperson for the Hearts told Reuters in an email.
“The original video was filmed inside the Hampden dressing room on October 31st, 2020, it was not filmed at Ibrox on February 24th, 2024.”
“The audio that subsequently appears on this video has been added by an external party, therefore the video has been altered and the claim of the location and date of its creation is false,” the spokesperson added.
Hearts won 2-1 against Hibernian on Oct. 31, 2020, in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park.
VERDICT
Altered. The audio, which can be dated to 2017, has been laid over the video. The video also shows a dressing room at Hampden Park in 2020, not Ibrox Stadium in 2024.