A video from 2024 of MP Shashi Tharoor criticising Donald Trump before he took charge as US President is viral with a misleading claim that it is from his ongoing visit, leading a diplomatic delegation after Operation Sindoor.
BOOM found that the video is from September 2024, when Tharoor was a guest at the New York edition of a literature festival, before the US elections commenced and Trump was elected as president.
In the viral video, Tharoor criticises Trump highlighing lack of political heft, statesmanlike gravitas and intellectual quality in comparison to previous US presidents and is viral with the text, "Did Shashi Tharoor just call Trump an 'International Sutiya'? If so, it's the smartest way of saying it & that too... on American Soil. Guts hai!"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
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Fact Check: Tharoor Made These Remarks in 2024
BOOM ran a reverse image search on video keyframes and found a longer version of the same video posted by Tharoor on September 15, 2024. In the video, Tharoor can be seen wearing the same clothes including the distinctive pocket square.
In his post, Tharoor says the interview was conducted on September 10, 2025 in New York with Aroon Purie, chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India Today group. The full video was uploaded to YouTube by Asia Society channel with the caption that Tharoor's interview was part of the New York edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF).
We also a May 23, 2025 post with the viral excerpt posted by @jlfinternational, the global edition of JLF on Instagram, confirming that it was a September 2024 interview.