A post on social media contained two photos of President Joe Biden’s swearing during ceremony, apparently showing a different configuration of the people in the background. Some users claim that this mismatch between the images is proof that Biden’s inauguration was pre-recorded or in some way staged and inaccurate. This is untrue: the images, a photo and a screenshot of C-SPAN footage were captured from different angles.
The Facebook post here (archived version: here) reads: “Once with a window, once without. Once the one with a face mask next to it and once behind it. Can not imagine that the people behind it changed places during the ‘oath’. Comments on the post include: “It was (sic) pre-recorded !!” and “not the same Joe either. Quite the show !! ”.
The report contains two images of Biden’s oath on January 20, 2021.
The first one here is a cut version with a lower resolution of the image here by Reuters photographer Kevin Lamarque. It shows U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) and his wife Abigail Blunt standing behind the Bidens (here).
The second image, which is not Sen. Blunt does not show here is a screenshot from the C-SPAN footage of the inauguration (see C-SPAN logo in the bottom right corner). Exact moment here: youtu.be/ZwvbQR887W0?t=21627 (timestamp 6:00:27).
The screengrab was captured seconds before Biden said “And will, to the best of my ability”. A similar angle of the moment is visible youtu.be/kAIqT_0_7p8?t=73 and youtu.be/lIOizAIqZtc?t=16302. Reuters surveys offer a different angle of the same moment: youtu.be/yHgjpzC80LI?t=4479.
Different angles of Biden being sworn in were captured by Reuters photographers: here, here, here.
The first image was probably captured from a higher position, resulting in a shot not displaying the bulletproof glass on stage (here), and a slightly different view of the people behind Joe and Jill Biden.
The allegation that the inauguration ceremony was pre-recorded is also false. News organizations from around the world and the US discussed live streams of the inauguration, including Reuters (youtu.be/yHgjpzC80LI, here), AFP (here), AP (here), CNBC (here), NBC (here) and USA Today (here).
Other official events of the 59th presidential inauguration included pre-recorded recordings, such as the Parade Across America (here) and parts of the Celebrating America Primetime Special (here)
VERDICT
Untrue. Photos show different angles of Biden’s swearing. The first ceremony was not ‘pre-recorded’.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.