Donald Trump and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs television interview video is fake

We recently VERIFIED that this viral image appearing to show Vice President Kamala Harris and Sean “Diddy” Combs – who is under indictment for racketeering and sex trafficking – was fake. 

Now, this video appearing to show an interview between former President Donald Trump and Combs has gone viral. The two appear to be sitting across from each other in front of a black backdrop, talking about various topics. At one point in their conversation, Trump seems to compliment Combs as the two banter back and forth. 

“I will tell you that you do fantastically well, you know, just tremendous,” Trump says in the clip. 

On TikTok, the video has more than 500,000 views. It has also been shared on X and Threads.

THE QUESTION

Is the viral television interview between Donald Trump and Sean “Diddy” Combs real?

THE SOURCES

• 1992 “Charlie Rose” interview with Donald Trump
• 1999 “Charlie Rose” interview with Sean “Diddy” Combs
• THE TALK YouTube video posted Aug. 27
• Jonas Hollerup Helle, creator of fake interview video
• Billedkunstnernes Forbund, Danish arts organization, interview with Helle
• InVid and RevEye, video and photo forensics tools

THE ANSWER

No, the viral television interview between Donald Trump and Sean “Diddy” Combs isn’t real.

WHAT WE FOUND

While Trump and Combs have been photographed together, the viral interview video is fake. The video was created using clips from two separate interviews with journalist Charlie Rose.

The clips of Trump come from a 1992 interview, while Combs’s clips are from his 1999 interview with Rose. The video was edited to make it appear as if Trump and Combs are having a conversation with each other. VERIFY confirmed this by comparing the fake interview to the originals, noting similarities in the background, clothing and speech. 

VERIFY matched the clip from the viral video of Trump speaking at the 24-second mark to the 7:55 mark of the Rose interview.

In the viral video, Combs says “I go to bed, at like, four o’clock” at 31 seconds. The same clip appears at the 29:22 timestamp in the Rose interview.

The fake video was made by Denmark-based artist Jonas Hollerup Helle, who posted it on Aug. 27 on his YouTube page titled “THE TALK.” The caption explains the video shows “conversations that never took place between people who never met. Created using existing interviews.” In an interview with Danish arts organization Billedkunstnernes Forbund, Helle admits he creates his videos using only “Charlie Rose” interviews, but removes the host. 

In an email to VERIFY, Helle stated he “always makes sure to clarify in the video descriptions that these conversations are not real.” He also noted that others have downloaded and re-uploaded his videos on social media without proper context.