Claim: a user on Twitter shared a collage photo he claims to be Marcus Rashford before he purportedly left Nigeria and what he looks like at present.
Photo used to depict Marcus Rashford was doctored to suit the narrative. This claim is false.
Full text
Multiple trends on Twitter have perhaps come and gone. However, one current trend making waves in the Nigerian Twitter space is the multiple photo collages shared by users to depict how they looked before they left Nigeria to other advanced countries.
Many users have shared what they apparently looked like before leaving the country. The collage usually carries two pictures, one illustrates “how I left” while the other depicts “me now” it was in this atmosphere that Twitter user with the username Marcus Rasford MBE (@one_dash) shared a collage photo of what claimed to be Marcus Rashford before and after he left Nigeria.
One of the photos depicted Marcus Rashford seemingly barbecuing while the other photo showed him in his Manchester United kit. The reality that Marcus Rashford is a prominent soccer player for Manchester United and the claimant’s username ‘Marcus Rasford’ attracted multiple users to the post.
The post stimulated 6,200 retweets, 40,000 reactions, and over 549 diverse comments. One user, Cole(@mr_18) shared his view with a sense of consensus to the photo, he held that “..And now you are our best player…..U make me inspired” while some users argued that the photo was a fake depiction of the player. (@kingkennyx20) “social media is a place for lies. I don’t believe anything here”.
Trends on social media can have a terrible influence on members of the public if it lacks the basis for truth. DUBAWA looks into this claim to verify its veracity.
Verification
When DUBAWA ran an analysis on the Twitter handle, it turned out that it was a parody Twitter account parading as Marcus Rashford. While the user’s Twitter handle remains constant, the username keeps changing to suit the claimant’s narratives.
Furthermore, the first picture used to depict Marcus Rashford’s barbecuing was uncovered by DUBAWA to have been photoshopped to depict the claimant’s narrative. Even more, the same photo has been used to ridicule prominent persons. In 2017, the same photo was doctored in a certain website to depict Kanye West.
Also, Bruno Mars, an American Pop singer was equally depicted in the same photo in another different website in 2020.
Apparently, this photo has been doctored several times to depict different persons; in this case Marcus Rashford. This is not the first time Marcus Rashford was depicted with the same picture. In 2019 last year he was trolled with the same picture after missing a penalty kick.
Conclusion
The photo depicted as Marcus Rashford was doctored to suit the prevailing narrative. The image has been used multiple times to ridicule prominent persons. This claim is false.
