Video shows local official, not Mike Pence, getting hit with water balloon | Fact check
The claim: Video shows girl hitting Mike Pence in the head with a water balloon
A July 14 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a man with white hair being struck in the head with a water balloon while walking in a parade.
"Girl Hits Former Vice President Mike Pence In The Head With A Water Balloon," reads the video's on-screen text.
The post garnered more than 60,000 likes in four days. A similar Instagram video received more than 70,000 likes in three days before it was deleted. Other versions of the claim have been shared on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
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Our rating: False
The video shows Nassau County, New York, official Bruce Blakeman getting hit by the balloon at a Fourth of July parade, not former Vice President Mike Pence. Pence was walking in a parade in a different state at the time.
Video shows different man, not Pence
The video was originally shared on Facebook and Twitter on July 12 by Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, who joked in both captions that the New York Yankees and Mets should scout the girl.
In a comment under the Facebook post, Blakeman said the video was filmed at the Stewart Manor parade, where water balloons and soaker guns are a long-standing tradition.
"Please do not be offended," Blakeman said in the comment. "All those who march including me, do so at their peril and are fair game. I had fun even if I got a little wet!"
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Thousands of people lined the streets, many with coolers full of water balloons, at the Long Island parade, according to a CBS article Blakeman linked beneath the Facebook post.
Meanwhile, the former vice president attended a Fourth of July parade in Urbandale, Iowa, the Des Moines Register reported.
Paste BN reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
The claim has also been debunked by Reuters, PolitiFact, Lead Stories and AFP.
Our fact-check sources:
- Bruce Blakeman, July 12, Tweet
- Bruce Blakeman, July 12, Facebook post
- CBS, July 4, Water balloons help make a splash at annual Stewart Manor's annual 4th of July parade
- Des Moines Register, July 5, Mike Pence spends 4th of July in 'vitally important' Iowa as he kicks off 3-day swing
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