Defense Secretary Fart Video Is Fake -- But Thousands Fell For It Anyway

In early April 2026, a video supposedly showing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth farting as he approached the lectern at a Pentagon news conference went viral across social media platforms. The clip, labeled "Hegseth fart in 4K," racked up thousands of shares from users who believed they were witnessing an authentic embarrassing moment.

They weren't. The fart sound was fake -- edited in by an Australian comedy account known for exactly this kind of stunt.

The Real Briefing Had No Flatulence

The original video comes from a March 13, 2026 Pentagon news conference featuring Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Associated Press and Fox News both aired the event live. In the unaltered footage, Hegseth walks to the microphone, says "Good morning," and begins the briefing. No bodily sounds. No viral moment.

White House correspondent Elaad Eliahu originally posted the genuine clip on social media. From there, it became raw material for someone with editing software and a sense of humor.

Comedy Account Takes Credit

Fact-checkers at Snopes traced the doctored video back to James Kennedy, an Australian content creator who operates under the handle "The 28 Year Old Male" across Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok. Kennedy posted the altered clip on April 5 with the caption: "Follow for more important updates. Things in America are falling apart at the seams, specifically in the cotton jocks of the Whitehouse."

Kennedy's accounts are clearly labeled as comedy and satire. His Facebook page lists him as a "Comedian." His Instagram bio says "Satire/Parody." He regularly posts similar content -- including another recent video where he added fart sounds to a conversation between Artemis II astronauts and NASA mission control.

In a February video thanking his followers, Kennedy described his work this way: "I live a life now where I spend all of my time trying to make strangers laugh who inevitably become my mates."

Why It Matters

The problem isn't that someone made a joke video. The problem is how quickly it spread as fact.

Users on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Threads, and TikTok shared the clip without checking its origins. The official X account for the Iranian embassy in Kenya even posted it with a quip about the Strait of Hormuz. Snopes reported that users searched their site asking "did Hegseth fart" and "Did Pete Hegseth really fart at press conference" -- genuine questions from people who believed what they saw.

This isn't the first time flatulence rumors have dogged political figures. Similar false claims have circulated about both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. But the Hegseth video demonstrates how digital manipulation tools have made it trivially easy to create convincing fakes -- and how confirmation bias makes people eager to believe content that mocks figures they already dislike.

Snopes contacted both the Pentagon and Kennedy for comment. As of publication, neither had responded.

The takeaway: If a viral political video seems too perfectly embarrassing to be true, it probably is. Check the source. Look for the original footage. And remember that "labeled satire" only works as a defense when people actually see the label before they hit share.