No, Michelle Obama did not refer to herself and Barack Obama as 'gay men'

What's the claim?

A 24-second video circulating on social media purportedly shows Michelle Obama seemingly referring to herself and her husband, former U.S. President Barack Obama, as "gay men." 

In the video, Obama appears to say, "For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. His limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful gay men who happened to be Black." The audience then applauds.

This video is being shared on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, with captions like, "Did Michelle Obama just say what I think she said?" Archived versions of the posts are here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the X posts. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the audio of the viral videos is altered. In the original speech, Obama said the word "people," not "gay men." 

What did we find?

By conducting a reverse image search, we found that the clip is from Obama's speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. 

At the convention, the Democratic Party nominated Vice President Harris for president and confirmed Governor Tim Walz as her vice-presidential running mate. 

Michelle Obama and Barack Obama also supported Harris during the convention.

During her speech, Michelle Obama acknowledged the challenges Harris would face, highlighting Trump's alleged efforts to incite fear through racist and misogynistic lies. The segment in question can be viewed from 11:20 to 11:48 in the C-SPAN (archived here) recording of her speech on YouTube.

In the original speech, Obama says, "For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. His limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happened to be Black."

Other videos from news outlets like CBS News (archived here) and Washington Post (archived here) also show Michelle Obama making the same statement.

A full transcript of her speech published by The New York Times on August 21, 2024, also shows that Michelle said, "See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black. I want to know — I want to know — who's going to tell him, who's going to tell him, that the job he is currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?" A transcript published by TIME also corroborates this.

Further, at the 0:17 mark of the viral video, Obama's mouth movements do not match the audio and clearly show her saying "people," not "gay men." However, the voice matches her real voice, indicating that it could have been manipulated using audio-cloning AI technology.

The conspiracy theory

The claim that Michelle Obama was born biologically male is a conspiracy theory and part of a recurring false narrative. Her life has been extensively documented, and no credible evidence or testimony suggests she was ever anything other than a woman.

Logically Facts has previously debunked claims linked to this narrative, such as a false claim that Michelle Obama was not identified as female in her mother's will and another claim that Barack Obama publicly referred to her as "Michael".

The verdict

An edited clip has been shared to claim that Michelle Obama seemingly referred to herself and former President Barack Obama as "two successful gay men who happen to be Black." However, the audio in the video has been altered. The original footage shows that Michelle Obama actually said "successful people," not "successful gay men."

Follow Logically Facts' coverage and fact-checking of the U.S. Election 2024 here.