A video showcasing a Cha Cha Dance sequence has been circulating on social media with the narrative that, “This is a 23 year old Television clip. This video is interesting not only because of the dance sequence. But, also because this boy is the current President of France Emmanuel Macron and the lady dancer is his teacher who is his wife.” We can see an amazing dance performance in the video. Circulating this video on social media it claims that the boy seen in the video is the President of France, Emmanuel Macron and the lady dancer is his teacher and his wife, Brigitte Macron. Netizens also claim that this is a 23-year-old video clip.
We found this video circulating on Facebook since 2017 with the same claim. This video is available with the claim in Hindi that says “यह एक 23 वर्षीय टेलीविजन क्लिप है। यह वीडियो केवल नृत्य अनुक्रम के कारण ही दिलचस्प नहीं है, लेकिन, यह भी क्योंकि यह लड़का फ्रांस का वर्तमान राष्ट्रपति इमैनुएल मैक्रॉन है और महिला डांसर, उनके शिक्षक, उनकी वर्तमान पत्नी है |”
Fact Check-
We started our investigation by taking a frame from the video and conducted a reverse image-search on Yandex and found a website named vk.com. This video is available on this website with the caption “Jake & Jenna – Ballroom – Top 10”. American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance,this video was unloaded on 12 July 2016.
When we took a closer look at the video available on vk.com website we found that at 1:26 minutes we could see “So You Think You Can Dance” written on the board that establishes the fact that this performance was indeed performed on the stage of a reality show.
Next we used keywords like “so you think you can dance Jake and Jenna season 13 2016” on Google to find out more about Jake and Jenna’s performance. The results led us to the website of soyouthinkyoucandance.fandom website which has the profile of all the contestants. According to the website, Jake Monreal (born September 24, 2003) is a 16-year old ballroom dancer. He participated in the thirteenth season of So You Think You Can Dance. His partner was Jenna Johnson (born 12 April 1994). This 25-year old competed alongside Jake Monreal as his all-star mentor on Season 13 of So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation.
We found an image of this dance performance on Getty Images with the caption that says
“SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE: L-R: Top 10 contestant Jake Monreal and all-star Jenna Johnson perform a Cha Cha routine to “Toca Toca (Radio Edit)”. Choreographed by Jean Marc Genereux on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE airing Monday, July 11 2016 on FOX.”
Thus, we can say that the couple dancing in the video is Jake and Jenna who were contestants at a reality show called So You Think You Can Dance in 2016. They performed on 11 July 2016. Thus, this video cannot be a 23-year-old clip.
This video clip is also available on Youtube. Youtube use named Jenna Johnson Fans uploaded this video on 12 July 2016 with the caption “Jenna Johnson & Jake Monreal: SYTYCD Next Generation Week 1 Cha Cha.”
Next, we searched about the President of France, Emmanuel Macron born 21 December 1977 is 41 years. Macron is married to Brigitte Trogneux, who was a teacher in his high school, La Providence High School in Amiens. They met during a theatre workshop that she was giving when he was a 15-year-old student and she was a 39-year-old teacher, but they only became a couple once he was 18. This video went viral on social media because of the age difference in the couple.
Credits- ABC News
Conclusion- After our investigation, we found this post to be False. The video is not a 23-year-old clip nor does the clip show the President of France and the first lady of France dancing. This is a Cha Cha dance performance by Jake Monreal and Jenna Johnson at a reality show called So You Think You Can Dance in 2016.
Title:A Reality show performance passed off as Emmanuel Macron and his wife.
Fact Check By: Aavya RayResult: False
