Censored video of female athletes is satire, not Iranian Olympic coverage | Fact check
The claim: Video shows Iranian coverage of Olympics
A July 29 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a compilation of female athletes performing with black censor boxes covering their bodies.
"#Iran's coverage of the #Olympics," reads part of the post's caption. "Why would they even bother broadcasting it?"
The post was shared more than 200 times in a week. Other versions of the claim were shared on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter.
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Our rating: False
The video was created by a satirical YouTube channel in 2013. It doesn't show an authentic Iranian broadcast of the Olympics.
Censored footage of women's sports created as satire
The censored footage predates the Paris 2024 Olympics by more than a decade.
The clips were included in two videos shared on YouTube in 2013 by a satirical news channel called TheONTENTV.
The online show's producer, Iranian-American journalist and comedian Saman Arbabi, told AFP in 2019 that the segment was created "as a joke."
"My show was a comedy show and the segment I made was to make fun of the Iranian government for not broadcasting women’s sports," Arbabi told the outlet. "This segment was a ‘suggestion’ for those who censor TV shows including women’s sports."
Paste BN reached out to Arbabi but did not immediately receive a response.
The Facebook post is an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where claims created as satire and presented that way originally are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
Fact check: Post shows 2023 photoshoot, not Chinese Olympic uniform
Iran has a history of censoring women's sports on state-run TV networks, blurring body parts or refusing to broadcast games altogether.
During the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Slate magazine reported the country's government-owned TV networks only broadcasted sports where female athletes were mostly covered or Iranian women were competing, such as taekwondo and archery.
Paste BN reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Snopes also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- TheONTENTV (YouTube), July 12, 2013, Blind eyes on the air – ONTEN 51
- TheONTENTV (YouTube), Aug. 23, 2013, Antenna week 57
- AFP, Oct. 4, 2019, Censorship of women’s sports by Iranian TV? This is likely a satirical video
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