[FACT-CHECK] - CNN chyron listing Syrian rebel leader’s pronouns is fake

Similar posts spread across the platform and other social media sites, including Threads and Facebook.

The posts circulated after Jolani’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other Syrian rebels ousted president Bashar al-Assad on December 8, seizing Damascus with a lightning offensive that brought to a dramatic end more than 50 years of brutal Assad family rule.

The government overthrow has thrust Jolani, whose real name is Ahmed al-Sharaa, into the spotlight, leaving Syrians clinging to his statements and interviews with international media for clues of what their country’s future might hold.

But the purported CNN interview labeling him with the pronouns “He/Him” is fake.

“This is not real and is a fabricated image that never aired,” said Emily Kuhn, CNN’s senior vice president of communications, in a December 13 email.

The still comes from an authentic interview CNN published December 6 — two days before Assad fled amid the rebel takeover (archived here and here). Jolani told correspondent Jomana Karadsheh that his coalition’s goal was to bring down Assad’s regime.

The chyron in the original clip lists Jolani’s name and title as “HTS leader,” but it does not mention pronouns. The chyrons in an on-air version of the interview the broadcaster posted on YouTube also do not include the rebel leader’s pronouns (archived here).

The false posts come amid a growing acceptance of pronoun use to recognize nonbinary gender identities, as well as a backlash among US conservatives against transgender rights and the LGBTQ community.

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about Syria here.