By: Uzma Afreen
July 19 2023
No, the video does not show Ukrainians celebrating after Crimea bridge attack
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
The video is from 2016 and shows crowds chanting a popular football anthem in support of a player.
Claim ID ac842cf8
Context
A video (archive here and here) showing a group of people dancing and cheering to a song is going viral with a claim that it shows Ukrainians dancing to the lyrics “Kerch bridge on fire, your defence is terrified."
According to the Associated Press (AP), the Kerch Bridge, or the Crimea Bridge, which links Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea, was damaged due to an attack on July 17, 2023. “The strike was carried out by two Ukrainian maritime drones, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee said,” AP reported.
In Fact
On listening closely to the video, the crowd sings, “Will Grigg’s on fire, your defence is terrified," not "Kerch Bridge." We looked up the lyrics and found the same video posted by a YouTube user named ‘krimola,’ on May 20, 2016. The video's description read, "Wigan Athletic fans singing the best football chant ever.” The visuals of this video and the one going viral are similar. The viral video, however, falsely captions this clip as "Kerch Bridge on fire."
According to Sky Sports, Will Griggs is an English Football player who played for U.K.-based football club Wigan Athletics from 2015 to 2019. The song "Will Grigg’s on Fire" was created by a fan after the striker scored 28 goals to lead the team to win the English Championship in 2016.
"Wigan fan Sean Kennedy made an initial video on YouTube singing Grigg’s name to the tune of 90s dance song ‘Freed from Desire’ by Gala, and it has now gone viral,” NBC Sports reported. NBC Sports also cited Kennedy’s video in its report, narrating how "this chant grew from one man singing at a computer screen in his house to being known the world over."
The actual lyrics of the modified song are, "Will Grigg's on fire, your defense is terrified, said Will Grigg's on fire, your defense is terrified, Will Grigg's on fire."
The Verdict
The video is from 2016 and shows the crowd dancing to the lyrics, "Will Grigg's on fire, your defense is terrified." The clip is not related to the recent attack on the Kerch Bridge, hence, we mark the claim as false.