Right-wing radio host Candace Owens played a very misleading clip of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on her Daily Wire show and then declared “that if I could get away with punching one person in the face and have no consequences, it would be President Zelensky.”
“Take a listen to Zelensky, warning you what will happen if you stop funding his lifestyle,” Owens began, before playing a selectively edited clip of the Ukrainian leader:
The U.S. will have to send their sons and daughters exactly the same way as we are sending our sons and daughters to war. And they will have to fight because it’s nature that we’re talking about. And they will be dying, God forbid, because it’s a horrible thing
“Oof, I am not going to say that. I’d like to punch Zelensky in the face because that’s that’s violent. But I am saying that if I could get away with punching one person in the face and have no consequences, it would be President Zelensky,” Owens replied, adding:
I can’t even tell you how much, oof, I harbor for him. The audacity to tell you that the consequence is going to be that your sons and daughters are going to fight and die if you don’t help him secure a win against Russia. Wow. That’s bold. But why should he be feeling bold? He’s got, he’s got our congressmen waving the Ukrainian flag in our chambers. Right. In our congressional chambers.
The clip Owens played went viral on social media this week and led to fact checks regarding its authenticity. While the clip is indeed part of a real answer Zelensky gave last week, publications like Newsweek, dubbed the clip “Misleading Material.”
“The clip was removed from its important and clarifying context, giving a misleading impression of what Zelensky said,” Newsweek wrote in an article on Wednesday.
The clip Owens showed was part of a longer answer by Zelensky to a question regarding his message to Americans concerned the U.S. is giving too much aid to Ukraine.
Newsweek noted “Zelensky began by thanking Americans for showing support to Ukraine, and said he believed withdrawing or decreasing support could hypothetically have an impact on their children, should Russia win the war as a result.”
“Russia is going to enter Baltic states, NATO member states, and then the U.S. will have to send their sons and daughters, exactly the same way as we are sending our sons and daughters to war,” Zelensky says in the part of the answer not included in the clip Owens showed.
“And they will have to fight because it’s NATO that we’re talking about and they will be dying, God forbid, because it’s a horrible thing,” Zelensky added, referencing NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense pact.
Watch the full clips above.
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