The performance of actor-comedian Vir Das on the “Two Indies” where he comes from has divided the Internet. The concert at the John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC, USA saw Das tackle crime and pollution in India, among others.
While many praised him for telling the truth, others remained furious at India’s “insult” on a global platform. In the middle of this, a alleged screenshot Das’s Wikipedia page has gone viral, which shows the actor’s full name as “Vir Abdullah Das”. Many share the screenshot with claims that Das is in fact a Muslim.
A Twitter user posted the said screenshot with a caption in Hindi which translates to: “The real name of the comedian who went to America and said bad things about Hindu and India is Vir Abdullah Das.”
The archived version of the message can be viewed here.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) discovered that neither Vir’s full name, Vir Abdullah Das, nor a Muslim. The actor’s public relations also confirmed this to us. Vir’s Wikipedia profile was heavily changed on November 16 and 17, but most of the changes were reversed within minutes. His name was changed to “Vir Abdullah Das” for a few minutes.
AFWA probe
The viral screenshot shows the small information panel that is often found in the upper right corner of Wikipedia pages. We have found that not only the current version of Das Wikipedia page but even in older versions of 2020, 2015 and 2010, his name is mentioned as simply “Vir Das”.
According to a 2019 report published in “The Wall Street Journal“,
We have not found any evidence that the actor is a Muslim.
In short, a screenshot of the Wikipedia page edited by Vir Das is circulating falsely claiming that he is a Muslim.
Update: After this story was published, we discovered that Vir Das’ Wikipedia profile had been heavily changed on November 16 and 17. His name was changed to Vir Abdullah Das, and even this line was added to his profile: “He doesn’t know about the father he had doubts about a lot of people and he got his sister pregnant at the age of 12 years old and he went to prison ”. Most of the changes were reversed within minutes. We have made some changes to the story based on this entry.
READ: 5 times Vir Das courted controversy before viral monologue “2 Indias”
LOOK: Uproar around Vir Das’ monologue on India: why are politicians afraid of comedians?
ClaimThis is a screenshot from actor-comedian Vir Das’s Wikipedia page showing that his real name is Vir Abdullah Das. ConclusionThe screenshot is from his edited Wikipedia page. His real name is Vir Das and he is Hindu.
JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE
The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.
- 1 crow: half true
- 2 crows: mostly lies
- 3 crows: Absolutely false
