A video that has been viewed more than 3.7 million times on Twitter shows a military band playing ‘Hit the Road Jack’ outside the White House before the departure of President Donald Trump. This is not true: the video was digitally modified to include the song.
The viral clip of 20 seconds ( here , here ) is also visible on Facebook (here, here) and YouTube (here).
Posts with the doctored video contain comments such as: “Perfect. Trump’s last day. The Military Orchestra right outside the White House – “Hit The Road Jack” … “and” Military Marching Band playing “Hit the Road Jack” in front of the White House loud enough to hear that it’s the worst. “
But the original footage, tweeted by CNN anchor Jim Acosta on January 18, 2021 here shows that the group actually played another song. His caption reads: “Preps for Biden inauguration … you can hear the band playing on WH grounds”.
The digitally recorded sound resembles the recording of “Hit the Road Jack” by the Ohio State University Marching Band (exact moment can be heard youtu.be/jOyKQYzm6VY?t=78).
VERDICT
Alter. Footage of a military band rehearsing near the White House before the inauguration of President Joe Biden has been digitally altered to include the song ‘Hit the Road Jack’.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.