Tribune Fact Check: Barack Obama crying over George Floyd killing?

The claim is false as it is a montage of two seperate speeches given by the US president

A video claiming to show former United States president Barack Obama breaking down in tears at an anti-racism conference over the fatal arrest of George Floyd has gone viral.

The post has been shared on social media thousands of times in different languages.The Express Tribune found the claim to be false as it is a montage of two seperate speeches Obama gave about gun control during his time in the Oval Office.

PHOTO: AL JAZEERA

The emotive video begins with a moment of silence before Obama tears start trickling down his eyes.According to the caption with the video, America’s first black president was reacting to the death of Floyd during a public address.

“Former American President OBAMA could not hold back his tears during the press conference on racist violence in this case that which resulted in the death of the African-American, George Floyd (sic),” reads one of the posts written in French.The footage garnered over 100,000 views and in excess of 2,000 shares since being posted on May 30.



While the same video shared as a Facebook post in English was seen more than 20 million times with the caption: “Obama shed tears during a press conference to address racism against black people in America”.A similar post has been viewed more than half-a-million times.

The clip emerged in the wake of global furore over Floyd's death, a 46-year-old black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 of this year.


Policeman Derek Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder after he was caught on tape kneeling on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes died of asphyxiation.Obama, however, did post a video addressing the incident that sparked mass rioting in the country.


The montage circulating online is not linked to the incident.Obama issued a statement on Twitter denouncing Floyd's death.

My statement on the death of George Floyd: pic.twitter.com/Hg1k9JHT6R

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 29, 2020

From different speeches

The first 25 seconds of the clip is a speech where a teary-eyed Obama  is heard saying: “Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad. And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day.”A Google search for the keywords “Obama crying” reveals this video, containing the same clip, on American news channel CNN.


Obama delivered the speech at the White House in 2016 while condemning gun violence in the country and rolled out new gun control measures.

During his speech, Obama shed tears as he remembered 20 first graders who were among those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, when a gunman rampaged through the school.Obama did not talk about racism in this address.



The second part of the montage starts with Obama saying: “We cannot turn away and simply dismiss those in peaceful protest as troublemakers or paranoid.”A Google search of these exact words reveals they are from Obama’s speech on July 12, 2016, during a memorial service for five Dallas police officers shot dead during a protest against police shootings of black men.

The gunman is thought to have deliberately targeted white police officers during the attack.

At the memorial service, Obama extensively talked about racism and protests then called for reconciliation, urging Americans to “reject despair” and “break a dangerous cycle”.Although the two speeches address violence and racism, they do not have any link to the death of Floyd.