Is this a real video of Damon Imani, a self-described producer and artist based in Denmark, crashing the World Economic Forum 2024 meeting and yelling an expletive at the chairperson, Klaus Schwab? No, that's not true: Imani stated in public social media posts that this is satirical. The video has been clearly edited to replace the initial speaker introducing Schwab with Imani shouting expletives.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on YouTube on January 16, 2024. Below the video thumbnail of Imani speaking behind a lectern and standing in front of a blue background that reads "World Economic Forum," the caption reads:
New WEF Participant Crashes 2024 Davos Meeting
This is what the post looked like on YouTube at the time of writing.
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Wed Jan 17 16:15:44 2024 UTC)
Click below to watch the video on YouTube:
In the 19-second video, Imani says:
And I appreciate the World Economic Forum providing me the opportunity to be on this stage and say fuck you, Klaus Schwab, and fuck your new world order! We, the people, were born free, we will stay free, and you and all of your globalist friends, including everyone in this room, can go fuck yourself!
While Imani has stated on his website that he is known for his satirical approach to commentary on societal and political issues, some social media users believe this video is real, as seen in this January 16, 2024, post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, from the account Catch Up Feed:
(Source: X.com screenshot taken on Thu Jan 18 20:36:00 2024 UTC)
Imani has publicly labeled this video satire on his verified X account in this January 16, 2024, post (archived here). In another January 16, 2024, X post (archived here), Imani debunked his video again and provided screenshots of the X platform citing his video post as satirical with added context.
A portion of the actual video, published on January 16, 2024, on the verified WION YouTube channel with the title "DAVOS 2024 LIVE: WEF's Schwab welcome address and also by Li Qiang & Ursula von der Leyen | WION," depicts a welcome address made by Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum, who is introducing Schwab and Swiss politician Viola Amherd.
A search (archived here) of the World Economic Forum website showed no results, such as press releases, to corroborate the claim Imani spoke at Davos.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks that mention Klaus Schwab can be found here.
