2017 photo of Sunny Leone’s Kochi rally shared as a massive protest against Israel in Kerala
A photo of a white car surrounded by a massive crowd is being shared on social media (here, here, and here) with a claim that it was taken during a protest against Israel in Kerala. Let’s fact-check the claim surrounding this photo.
Claim: A photo of a massive crowd gathered on the roads during a protest against Israel in Kerala.
Fact: This is a 2017 photo of Sunny Leone’s Kochi visit, not from any protest rally. While IUML did hold a major rally in Kerala in 2023 for Palestine, this image is not from that event. Hence, the claim in the post is FALSE.
To get to the bottom of this viral image, we conducted a reverse image search on Google, which led us to several news articles (here and here) dating back to 2017. The reports confirmed that Bollywood actress Sunny Leone was in Kochi on 16 August 2017 for a mobile store inauguration, which drew a massive crowd. Sunny Leone even shared the same image on her Twitter account, expressing her gratitude for the overwhelming response.
This same picture was previously debunked by Factly when it was incorrectly claimed to be from a PM Modi rally in Kochi.
In our research, we did not find any recent massive rallies in Kerala specifically supporting Palestine. However, IUML did hold a large rally on 26 October 2023, where thousands of men and women gathered at Calicut beach, chanting “Solidarity with Palestine” and “Down with Zionism,” forming a substantial crowd.
To sum up, a 2017 photo from Sunny Leone’s Kochi rally is being misrepresented as a large crowd from a recent protest against Israel in Kerala.