What was claimed
A video shows a World Economic Forum (WEF) delegate telling the group’s founder Klaus Schwab to “go fuck himself”.
Our verdict
False. The prank video was created by a satirist.
An Australian senator has retweeted a video of a World Economic Forum delegate supposedly telling the global body’s founder to “go fuck himself”.
However, the video is a prank made by a self-described satirist and content creator.
One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts retweeted the prank clip (archived here) on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, January 17, at 4.06pm.
The video features a tattooed man supposedly speaking at the WEF’s annual conference in Davos, Switzerland. After thanking the organisers for giving him a platform, the man’s demeanour shifts.
“Fuck you Klaus Schwab and fuck your new world order,” the supposed delegate says.
“Brilliant. Davos delegate telling Klaus Schwab to his face & in public to go f… himself,” Senator Roberts tweeted before warning his followers about “swearing in video”.
He added: “We will continue what we started years ago: calling out parasitic globalists.”
While some of the senator’s followers appeared to think the clip was genuine, many were quick to point out it was an attempt at satire.
“Who wants to tell him,” one X user wrote.
“It’s not real, Senator,” said another.
Just over 30 minutes after posting, Senator Roberts amended his post. But not before it had been viewed more than 11,000 times, according to X statistics.
“Fake video of Davos delegate telling Klaus Schwab to his face & in public to go f… himself,” the senator’s revised tweet begins.
“Comedian saying what most of the world is thinking.”
Asked for comment on why he sent the initial tweet, Senator Roberts told AAP FactCheck in a statement: “The video was humorous and I agree with the core message. Klaus Schwab is an enemy of Australian prosperity.”
The video’s creator Damon Imani is a self-described satirist who creates montages of videos involving public figures such as Joe Rogan and Elon Musk. He clearly labelled the WEF video as satire on his X post.
Senator Roberts was not the only social media user to promote the clip, with other examples here, here, here and here.
Monica Smit, who has been debunked by AAP FactCheck several times, posted the video before later apologising to followers as she didn’t intend to “get your hopes up for no reason”.
The annual WEF conference in Davos has become a major target for conspiracy theories and misinformation in recent years.
AAP FactCheck has debunked numerous claims about “globalist” conspiracies connected to the WEF, including here, here, here and here.
The verdict
The claim a video shows a World Economic Forum delegate telling the group’s founder Klaus Schwab to “go fuck himself” is false.
The video is an attempt at satire and was created by a content producer.
False — the claim is inaccurate.
This is the bloke that stated ” the climate is not changing and I know that because I’ve researched it”. Perhaps he has a knack for satire.
What does all this (and more) say about the people who elected this Malcolm Roberts character to the Parliament of Australia as their representative?
(I shudder to think. Technically, they are “my fellow Australians” – like hell!!)
I think all it shows is that people don’t know much about the person they’re voting for, and don’t care – not that they accept his rubbish.
Regarding our fellow Australians who are also Malcolm Roberts fanboys, I think we can all learn from Indigenous Australians about putting up with idiots.
And those locally and elsewhere who share his conspiratorial views of the WEF, one the ideological and/or faux left…..
I was dragged to a town hall meeting with Roberts as the main man about 12 months ago…and I was pleasantly surprised by his demeanour and reasonableness.
For 45min, on the topic of youth crime, he did not espouse simplistic solutions like “lock em up”, he preached that the issue was complex, and that nuance was required in solutions. Anytime a local yokel got up and started down the “these kids are monsters” line, he pulled them up, and explained that kids aren’t monsters, and any who behave that way do so because they haven’t received stable care; they’ve missed out on the love and attention kids need. His responses were extremely sensible…I was shocked.
Then he started talking about the climate fraud, and the unelected UN…and my eyes started rolling hard.
But there is some parts of Roberts that are reasonable, caring, and logical. It was easy to see in those 45min why voters were swayed by him, and then start believing his conspiratorial nonsense.
Teehee
Interesting read.
Thanks for sharing
And that is the thing about democracy. Any idiot can become a Senator. Sometimes I wonder if it really is grounds for celebration or for complete despair.
This demonstrates how easily one can be misled: I have always thought Malcolm Roberts is satire.
Malcolm Roberts has all the charm and intellect of a full potty.