“OUTDATED”, “vulgar” and “offensive” are the words that a viral fake tweet depicts Labour leader Anas Sarwar calling Billy Connolly.
There is no evidence that Sarwar ever gave such a quote, but it has been shared widely on social media site Twitter/X.
With no source or link, why do so many people believe it?
The fake news article screenshot has received thousands of interactions condemning Sarwar for his imaginary comments. The image, apparently purporting to be from ITV News, falsely states that if he wins a majority he would “end the culture of vulgarness that gives Scotland a bad reputation on the world stage”.
Given Sarwar’s dramatic U-turn on his stance regarding the Gender Recognition Reform bill, his nabbing of the Tory DOGE concept and the litany of his political policy absorption that The National illustrated last week, it is not entirely surprising that the majority of Scottish Twitter believed the doctored article. It would seem that many aren’t entirely sure yet of what Anas Sarwar actually stands for.
A simple search combination of Sarwar and Connolly’s name will show the Scottish Labour Leader lauding praise on "The Big Yin" for propelling Scottish humour around the globe and with Elon Musk’s (of whom’s DOGE policy Sarwar has embraced) recent comments regarding his desire to “legalise comedy” it would seem to be translucent fake news to the public. This was not the case.
Sarwar’s lack of distinguishable individual opinion and policy could be to his detriment, as with nothing to clarify what he actually thinks without toeing the Westminster party line and his pick and mix of other’s policy, it seems the public believes he could say just about anything.
There are enough reasons to have a go at Sarwar. There's no need to start making things up.
