False Video Claim: Alien Sighting in New York City Linked to Film Promotion

THE CLAIM: A video shows an alien that was seen in the US city of New York recently.

AP VERIFICATION: False. The video shows an activity that took place in New York to promote a film that was recently released in the United States called “Jules”, which presents the story of an alien named Jules who lands in the backyard of a man who lives in the western Pennsylvania, United States.

THE FACTS: A video shared on Facebook shows two screenshots on its cover. On the left side appears a man with black hair and glasses; on the right side a white being with black eyes who wears a blue shirt with a planet Earth that says in English: “Love your mother”. On the images the phrase: “Extrat3rrestr3es en New York” can be read.

“The text that accompanies the recording says: “Extrat3rrestr3s in New York? They are preparing us for something big!” The video shows the man on the cover talking as the white creature strolls through the subway and the streets of New York.

The driver says that the white creature was seen in New York. He later states that it could be a person in disguise and that if so it would be part of an effort to prepare humanity and explain to them why people will start disappearing soon.

The man assures that they will blame the aliens but that in reality the disappearances are due to the “rapture” – a concept known by some practitioners of Christianity as the moment in which God will raise up his Church and remove it from the earth.

But neither the white creature is real nor is it part of an effort to hide upcoming disappearances of people, rather it is an activity that was carried out to promote the film “Jules” by director Marc Turtletaub, which premiered on August 11 in USA.

After conducting a reverse image search, The Associated Press found photos of the same character holding a #JulesMovie sign. Video was also found showing two men photographing the creature, at one point one is seen holding the same #JulesMovie sign that appears in the photos.

The film’s website is julesmovie.com and there you can see photographs of the film as well as the trailer. In these you can see that the creature that appears in the publication is the protagonist of the film and that in some cuts it appears with the same shirt from planet Earth.

On the other hand, some videos shared by network users were published in the highlights of the Instagram page of the film’s producer, Bleecker Street along with the hashtag #JulesMovie.

The AP reached out to Bleecker Street for comment but did not immediately hear back.

The film directed by Turtletaub, who produced the critically acclaimed film “Little Miss Sunshine” in 2006, tells the story of a man who finds meaning at an advanced age when an alien lands in his backyard and they develop an unexpected friendship.

AP has denied other videos being used to falsely claim they show alleged alien encounters.
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This article is part of The Associated Press’s fact-checking effort to combat misinformation being shared online, and includes a collaboration with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of fake news shared on this social network.

Here’s more information about the AP fact-checking team and Facebook’s fact-checking program: https://www.facebook.com/help/1952307158131536.

2023-08-14 18:46:00
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