After President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Mr Doug Emhoff lit a candle at the White House to commemorate the bad milestone of 500,000 US deaths due to coronavirus disease, social media reports claimed that the event was pre-recorded or took place in a “fake” White House. If you point to the various facades of the White House and the leaves on the southern lawn’s trees as alleged evidence, this claim is unfounded and false.
Examples of postings that make this claim can be found here and here.
One report shows a digital collage with a picture of a TV news from the southern portico of the White House with a picture that reads ‘WH CANDLE LIGHTING IS ALREADY 500,000 DEAD’ (here). The maker of the collage labeled the picture, which shows the stairs of the southern façade with candles, ‘Fake White House or Pre Recorded’. Below is an image named “Live Webcam 23/22/2021” showing the north side of the White House.
As reported here by Reuters, President Biden, Vice President Harris and their wives commemorated 500,000 American deaths due to COVID-19 on the evening of February 21 with a moment of silence and demanded that all Americans participate. The event took place near the stairs to the south porch of the White House, as shown in a Reuters image here.
Social media users who share the collage and claim the image shows a ‘false’ White House miss the fact that the president’s house has two sides: the northern facade and lawn, bordered by Pennsylvania Avenue, East Executive Drive and West Executive Drive; and the southern facade and lawn, bounded by West Executive Drive, East Executive Drive, and a public lawn called the Ellipse (goo.gl/maps/czjdbESS7VyZjTaU9).
Paintings, illustrations and photographs showing both sides of the White House between the mid-19th century and the present can be found here.
In addition, the creator of the post points to the leaves on the South Lawn trees as alleged proof that the event was pre-recorded on February 21, apparently because most trees in Washington, DC would be bare in the winter. However, Reuters’ photos of the South Lawn from 24 January 2021 (here), 29 January 2020 (here) and 14 January 2019 (here) all show the same trees with leaves on them.
The trees on either side of the steps of the southern façade are southern magnolias, or Magnolia grandiflora. As reported here by Smithsonian Magazine, in 1835, the seventh U.S. President Andrew Jackson first planted a magnolia on the White House grounds.
Southern magnolias are evergreen trees, meaning they do not lose their leaves during the winter season (here).
VERDICT
Untrue. The February 21 ceremony in honor of 500,000 American lives lost to COVID-19 was not pre-recorded, nor was it filmed in a “fake” White House.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.