Video claiming to show Rachel Maddow getting emotional while reporting on Elon Musk meme is fake

Comcast, the parent company of NBC and its affiliated properties, recently announced plans to spin off its cable television networks, including CNBC and MSNBC, into a new company. Following this news, Elon Musk, owner of X, shared a meme online fueling speculation he might purchase MSNBC if it becomes available.

A video of Rachel Maddow, one of MSNBC’s leading personalities, went viral on social media, appearing to show her reaction to Musk’s memes about buying MSNBC.

The clip appears to show Maddow on air during a breaking news segment with a banner on screen reading: “BREAKING NEWS ELON MUSK POSTS DANGEROUS MEME.” Maddow becomes visibly upset, then requests a graphic to be displayed and the screen cuts to an explicit meme about Musk's buying MSNBC.

The video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. Google Trends data shows a spike in searches for terms including “Elon Musk meme,” “Rachel Maddow crying,” and “Rachel Maddow Elon Musk.” People in the comments on the video expressed surprise that Maddow would act like that on air.

THE QUESTION

Is the video of an emotional Rachel Maddow during a news segment about speculation that Elon Musk could buy MSNBC real?

THE SOURCES

• Video of Maddow’s show on June 19, 2018
• MSNBC network spokesperson
• VERIFY analysis of the video
• Rachel Maddow social media post from June 19, 2018
• Review of recent episodes from “The Rachel Maddow Show”
• InVid and RevEye, video and photo forensics tools

THE ANSWER

No, the video is not real. It was created using a real video of Maddow from 2018 and was edited to include fake onscreen graphics and a meme about Musk.

WHAT WE FOUND

The viral video appearing to show Maddow upset on air in response to social media posts depicting the potential sale of MSNBC to Elon Musk is fake. It was created using a real clip from “The Rachel Maddow Show’s” June 19, 2018 episode that was then edited to include graphics and images to make it appear like she is reacting to a story about Musk. 

An MSNBC network spokesperson told VERIFY the video “has been manipulated and is fake.”

Using InVid, a video forensics tool, VERIFY analyzed the video and conducted a reverse image search, which led us to clips of Maddow’s original 2018 news segment about immigration policy.

When comparing the edited video with the original clip from 2018, it was clear Maddow was making the same gestures, wearing the same outfit and the background is identical.  A thumbnail promoting MSNBC’s live coverage from the southern border also appears in the bottom corner of both versions.

In the original segment, Maddow got emotional while reading an Associated Press report about children separated at the southern border and placed in “tender age” shelters. After her show aired, Maddow apologized on social media for becoming emotional during the broadcast. 

There have been no verified reports that Musk is considering purchasing MSNBC or that the network would be sold as part of Comcast’s restructuring. Other posts from Musk included retweets of articles from satirical websites. None of Maddow’s recent broadcasts contain this fake news segment.