By Kinjal

A video of a bodybuilder angrily throwing away the prize he won in a competition is circulating widely on social media. In the opening of the video, the contestant is asked to stand in one corner of the stage. This prompts him to take off his medal, and hurl the prize offstage. He then kicks it repeatedly. The accompanying caption states, “No matter how talented you may be, you will only be recognized by your caste”. In other words, social media users are alleging that the man in the video is being discriminated against due to his caste. It is worth noting that this comes against the backdrop of a slew of recent incidents of caste-based discrimination and violence.

Anamika Gautam, who claims to be associated with the Bahujan Samaj Party, tweeted this video with a similar claim. It had racked up more than 9,60,000 views at the time of this article being written (Archived link)

https://twitter.com/Anamika78609341/status/1610577381458325504?t=Q5K35FlYRbvzax50U_JaNA&s=19

Facebook user Vikas Gautam also amplified this video with a similar claim. It amassed over 29,000 views. (Archived link)

Another Facebook user by the name of ‘Mulnivasi RK Bharti’ also shared the footage with the same claim. (Archived link)

The video is widespread on Facebook with the same claim and has been making the rounds on Twitter as well.

Fact Check

Alt News performed a reverse image search using frames taken from the viral video. This led us to a video report covering the incident by Bangladeshi news channel My TV Bangladesh dated December 27, 2022. The outlet mentions in the title that a bodybuilder was seen kicking his award and describing the federation as ‘thieves’.

According to My TV Bangladesh, Jahid Hasan Shuvo, a Bangladeshi bodybuilder, threw and kicked his award several times after getting second place in a competition. Following the outburst, the Bangladesh Bodybuilding Federation (BABBF) called a meeting and imposed a lifetime ban on Shuvo. Criticizing the move, the bodybuilder took to social media and called the federation ‘thieves’. The report also mentions that netizens were divided on the bodybuilder’s actions, with some coming out in support, and others expressing their disapproval.

https://youtu.be/BsAmEniqamM

Read full story https://www.altnews.in/fact-check-did-a-body-builder-kick-reward-for-being-a-victim-of-racism/