Was a banner with the words "Fuuuck Ukraine" raised by a fan during a U.S. professional wrestling event? No, that's not true: The video in the post was digitally altered to add the insulting sign. The original video instead showed a member of the audience holding a sign that reads "Betrayal, Bay Bay"; a catchphrase used by a competing wrestler and his fans.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by belvestnik.bel11 on January 10, 2024, with a caption (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff) that read:
🇺🇸 Finals took place in one of the American wrestling leagues, where an unknown hero unfurled a poster with the words Fuck Ukraine to a multimillion audience.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Jan 22 06:09:40 2024 UTC)
The original video was posted on January 3, 2024, on the official YouTube channel (archived here) of the All Elite Wrestling group that sponsored the event, which shows the entrance of American wrestler Adam Cole (archived here).
At the 0:55 mark of the YouTube clip a man with a covered face can be seen holding a banner that reads: "Betrayal; Bay Bay."
Bay Bay is a catchphrase, chanted by the wrestler himself and his fans.
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Mon Jan 22 06:56:05 2024 UTC)
Organizers of the events, which they dub "memorable, inspiring and spectacular" wrestling matches and entertainment, enforce a fan code of conduct when it comes to signs that says:
Note that fans can bring a handheld sign/poster to AEW shows, but it must be related to the event and cannot be offensive, derogatory, disrespectful, political or commercial in nature.
