Protester did not hold up sweary sign in background of Starmer and Trump meeting
What was claimed
A screenshot shows a protester visible in the background of a recent meeting between Keir Starmer and Donald Trump holding a sign saying “Trump is a c***”.
Our verdict
This scene has been altered. The picture of the protester is from Donald Trump’s 2016 visit to Scotland, and has been edited into the background.
An edited image which appears to show a protester holding a sweary sign through a window in the background of a press conference with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump has been shared online.
The posts include what appears to be a screenshot of a video of the meeting with a Fox News banner, which is also circulating on X (formerly Twitter). A watermark on that video credits it to an account on Instagram, which shared it on 29 July and has gained over 15,000 likes.
The two leaders are seated, while a woman holding a sign reading “Trump is a c***” is visible in the background outside.
But this video, and the screenshots, have been edited. Other footage of the same moment in the press conference shows there was no one at the window.
Additionally the image of the protester is not from President Trump’s most recent four-day visit to Scotland in July.
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It actually shows the Scottish comedian and actress Janey Godley, who died in November 2024.
The picture of her holding the sign was taken in June 2016, when she protested at Turnberry Golf course during his visit that year, when he was the Republican presidential candidate. Mr Trump had attended to cut the ribbon for the reopening of the golf club, which he had purchased two years before.
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This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as altered because this is an edited screenshot, which has superimposed an old image of the protester into the video and screenshots.
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