Does a video show vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz dancing in a cowboy hat and revealing two-piece outfit? No, that's not true: The original video features another person. The face in the video was altered to look like Walz.
The claim was implied in a post (archived here) published on X on September 4, 2024. The post included a video of someone who looked like Walz dancing to Beyoncé's 2024 song "Texas Hold 'Em." The caption read:
Here's a closer look. Who is this?
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu Sept 5 14:01:05 2024 UTC)
Video is not of Walz
The original video (archived here) was posted on Instagram on February 19, 2024, on the page of performer Matthew Krumpe. The video, in which Krumpe was the person dancing, was captioned:
This ain't Texas , and if anyone walks into my shot again im quitting making content and jumping off this boat . #beyonce #texasholdem #dance #dancechallenge #dextermayfield #mattmccall #choreography #gay #cruise #cruiselife #country #western #twostep #fyp #foryoupage #reels #reelsofinstagram #myvacaya
A closeup of Krumpe's face as it appears in the original video is included below:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Thu Sept 5 17:25:47 2024 UTC)
Walz was not mentioned or seen in the original video.
Additionally, the video edited to look as though Walz was the dancer shows signs of alteration. The low resolution makes it difficult to see the face of the person in the video clearly, a way to make the subject of a video more ambiguous. Lead Stories also noticed that the person's features changed throughout the video. Most notably, their hair went from Walz's white (archived here) to dark brown, as shown below:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu Sept 5 14:22:59 2024 UTC; edited by Lead Stories to show discrepancy)
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu Sept 5 14:27:17 2024 UTC; edited by Lead Stories to show discrepancy)
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Lead Stories previously debunked another claim that Walz was seen dancing in a cowboy hat and a provocative outfit. Other fact checks about Tim Walz can be found here.
Other Lead Stories fact checks about the 2024 presidential election can be found here.
