Katy Perry was the first to fall for the fake video. (Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Katy Perry, Madonna and Cheryl have all fallen victim to the same fake.
Katy Perry was first when, at 12.07am this morning, she shared a viral tweet of a video of people standing on balconies with the caption: “A whole neighbourhood in Italy is singing ‘Roar’ by Katy Perry while they’re on lockdown and self-quarantined. #COVIDー19.”
The blurry video was dubbed with her hit, ‘Roar’. Katy Perry retweeted it, saying: “You cannot break the human spirit. We are one in this.”
Unfortunately, the video is a fake – as people were quick to point out.
Its a fake video whats not clickin???? 😭😭😭
— fabgrat (fan account) (@fabbgrat) March 14, 2020
GIRL IT’S FAKE pic.twitter.com/N26AR9w1TU
— LegendaryNugget (@_patryx) March 14, 2020
Ma it’s fake😭😭😭😭
— rogér (@faggotcums) March 14, 2020
the video is fake but at least you got the right flag 😭❤️ pic.twitter.com/pxra4ybiEp
— 🅹 (@kxtysboy_) March 14, 2020
Madonna was next, tweeting the same video 12 hours later, at 1.18pm on March 15 – only this time it had been dubbed with people singing along to her song ‘I rise’.
“Let Us All RISE UP. everywhere around the world!!” Madonna tweeted.
NOT YOU TOO 😭😭😭😭😭 LEGENDS
— matty (@marajxgaga) March 15, 2020
Again, people were quick to call it a fake – and this time, point to the fact that Katy Perry had already fallen for the same trick.
Katy did the same PLSS
— 🌙 (@chainskp1) March 15, 2020
She knows lmao she’s trolling
— ᴄʜᴀᴋɪʙ (@VELVETMAGDALENE) March 15, 2020
Finally – at least, until the next global popstar falls for it – Cheryl made it a hat-trick, tweeting the same video at 3.02pm.
This time it was captioned: “A whole neighbourhood in Italy is singing Fight For This Love by Cheryl while they’re on lockdown and self-quarantined. #COVIDー19.”
Cheryl simply retweeted the video and added “I’m not crying” with a crying emoji.
Once again, legions of people online were quick to let her know that she’d been had.
Girl no one knows you internationally. Lmfaoo you expect an entire Italian neighborhood to know your lil music?
— Captain Carib (@ihenryramos) March 15, 2020
Stop it this can’t be real 😂😂
— johnathan (@johnathanliamd) March 15, 2020
At the time of writing, Katy Perry, Madonna and Cheryl are the only known popstars to have fallen for the fake video.
But given the millions of people with internet access now under either state-imposed lockdown or self-imposed isolation because of coronavirus, it seems unlikely they’ll be the last.