After India’s recent victory over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup on October 23, former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag tweeted a video of a man smashing a television set where a match was being telecast. In the accompanying caption, Sehwag wrote, “Relax neighbor, it’s only a game. We are celebrating Diwali here, by bursting crackers while you are unnecessarily destroying a TV. The TV is not to blame, man.” (Archived link)
Relax Padosi , it’s only a game.
Hamaare yahan Deepawali hai toh pataakhe phod rahe hain aur aap bevajah TV 📺 phod rahe hain 🤣.Nahin yaar, TV ka kya kasoor. pic.twitter.com/AvVL4fOmny
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 23, 2022
Sehwag shared the visuals on Instagram as well. NDTV India carried the news based on Sehwag’s tweet. (Archived link)
A number of other media outlets also covered the video. Among them were India Today, Times Now, Zee24 Taas, Live Hindustan, News18 Hindi, ABP न्यूज़, Jagran, IBC24, and Sportz Wiki. Some of the outlets mentioned that Sehwag shared the video, and called it funny. However, none of these contained any information about the original source of the video.
The clip was also widely circulated on social media. (Twitter, Facebook)
Fact-check
Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube, which led us to another video posted to the platform on June 16, 2016. According to the video title, the video shows an angry football fan destroying his television set and laptop during a match between Turkey and Croatia.
However, in contrast to the viral video, this 2016 YouTube clip shows a football match playing on the television screen, not a game of cricket.
In addition, we also came across an article by UK outlet The Sun dated June 16, 2016, which includes screen grabs from the video. As per the report, this was a match between Turkey and Croatia during the Euro 2016 event. A Turkish spectator was watching the match with his wife. When she asked him a question during the match, he asked her to leave the room. Following this, the wife began turning the TV on and off through her smartphone. The interruptions in the match angered the man to such an extent that he smashed his laptop into two and also destroyed the TV.
The full version of the video can also be found on YouTube.
To sum it up, footage of an angry football fan who destroyed a TV set during a Euro 2016 match between Turkey and Croatia was falsely circulated by former cricketer Virender Sehwag and several media outlets linking it to the recent cricket match between India and Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Not only that, the footage was also doctored to replace the football match on the TV screen with a cricket match.
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