This video has nothing to do with the recent Covid-19 deaths, it is a part of a Russian music video.

A viral clip showing a man in a black body bag smoking took netizens by surprise. Many have been claiming that the clip shows a pile of dead bodies of corona infected people, in which one man is still alive. This is how ‘they’ are fooling the public in the name of the coronavirus.

Fact Crescendo received many requests about this video on our WhatsApp Factline (9049053770).

Upon our investigation, it came to light that the viral claims are false. The video clip was taken during the shooting of a Russian music video. 

WHAT’S THE CLAIM

A 11-second clip is being widely shared on social media which shows a pile of body bags loaded on a truck. Among this pile of body bags a man is seen partially covered in a body bag, smoking a cigarette while two people are dealing with the other bags. 

The caption to this video reads: It seems odd that a man having died due to Covid-19 is smoking a cigarette. Is Corona real or just a hoax? (Translated from Hindi)

Another user writes: Before setting up the “drama” in front of the media, a Coronavirus victim enjoying his cigarette. (Translated from Hindi)

This clip is also making rounds on Facebook.

Original Post – Facebook | Archive

FACT CHECK

To begin our investigation, we took a key-frame and ran a reverse image search on it. The results led us to various videos uploaded on YouTube with similar claims. 

The clip is a TikTok video. The username of the original uploader can be seen in it. Taking a close look at these clips, we learnt that the username is @vasyaivanovdesign. 

But TikTok is banned in India. So, we cannot check the original clip on it. At least, we got the name of the uploader – Vasya Ivanov.

We, then, looked out for Vasya Ivanov and found his Instagram account. According to his bio, he is a production designer/art director. On his account, we found two posts, which show body bags similar to viral videos. One of them features the same building seen in the viral clip.

Original Post – Instagram

By searching the text in the caption – “Хаски – Никогда-нибудь” – we came to a Russian music video of a rapper by the name of Dmitry Nikolayevich whose stage name is Husky (Хаски).

The video is available on Youtube and Facebook. 

Though the shot of a man smoking in a body bag is not in the video, as it was taken behind the scenes, there are enough clues to deduct that the viral clip was taken during the production of this music video.

First, you can see the orange truck is present in both videos. Then there are body bags, the window, wall texture, and the underground ventilators, which all indicate that these are not real dead bodies. They are only filming a music video.

We then searched for “dead bodies in Husky music video” in Russian. We found out that last year in September too, this same music video had caused panic in Moscow after the photos of its shooting showing dead bodies hanging from a building went viral. 

Distressed by the images, many had complained to authorities about it. After which, the director of the video, Evgeny Bakirov, had to come forward clarifying the misunderstanding.

“The performance with “corpses” that frightened Muscovites at the hospital on Shchepkina Street (MONIKI) turned out to be the filming of a video by rapper Husky. Director Evgeny Bakirov told us about the work on the video. According to him, they just needed a beautiful wall to hang the mannequins. But Bakirov did not reveal the meaning of the idea. The video will be released in the second half of September,” reads the Russian description of the news video. (Google Translate)

You can see the same orange truck behind the director while giving bite to a news reporter. 

Original News Video – YouTube

CONCLUSION

Hence, a clip taken during a music video production is going viral with a false claim. The viral video does not show dead bodies of Coronavirus victims. Before sharing such false claims, please send them to us on our WhatsApp Factline (9049053770) to get it verified. Coronavirus is real. It is not a hoax.