Parody video is passed off as David Bowie's prediction of the impact of internet in 1999 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 11, 2022
A social media post accompanying a video claims that popular English singer-songwriter had predicted the impact of the internet back in 1999 in a programme called Newsnight. This video is being widely shared. In the video, we can hear a man (look-alike of David Bowie) predicting the emergence of social media, targeted adverts, far-right gaining political power, behavioural changes of humans, etc. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of English singer-songwriter David Bowie predicting the impact of internet back in 1999.
Fact: The viral video is a parody of the real David Bowie’s old interview on Newsnight in 1999, created by Michael Spicer. Though David Bowie talks about the internet in the original interview, at no point in the interview he mentions exactly the same words, as claimed in the viral video. The viral video is a recreation of original David Bowie interview. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
It is true that the real David Bowie spoke about the internet on Newsnight interview in 1999. However, the viral video is actually a parody of David Bowie’s old interview, wherein an actor impersonates as real David Bowie.
Google search with keywords yielded the original interview on the official BBC Newsnight channel on YouTube. In this interview David Bowie indeed talks about the internet, ‘I don’t think we’ve even seen the tip of the iceberg. I think the potential of what the Internet is going to do to society, both good and bad, is unimaginable. I think we’re actually on the cusp of something exhilarating and terrifying’ Bowie replied to a question.
However, at no point in the interview, Bowie mentions the emergence of social media, targeted adverts, far-right gaining political power, behavioural changes of humans, etc. as claimed in the post.
The viral video is a parody of the original David Bowie interview. The video was created shared by Michael Spicer, a British comedy writer, best known for his satirical videos. He shared the video initially on his Twitter handle on 03 January 2022. Many users have posted the actual video of David Bowie interview in the comments section.
David Bowie Predicts the Impact of the Internet on Newsnight (1999) pic.twitter.com/SH3bFQbqQw
To sum it up, a parody video is passed off as David Bowie predicted the impact of the internet in 1999.