Fact check: Image of London Mayor being arrested taken from sitcom Citizen Khan
A humorous cameo from the BBC comedy series, which aired eight years ago, has been used to suggest Sadiq Khan was recently arrested.
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Your support makes all the difference.A still image post on the social network platform TikTok has claimed that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has been arrested for “misconduct” in public office, accompanied by a photo of Mr Khan being held by a police officer.
Evaluation
Mr Khan has not been arrested for misconduct or any other charges, while the image of him being arrested is taken from a television sitcom.
The facts
The post on TikTok claimed to be “breaking news” and was posted on December 10, as determined by an online tool to identify when TikTok posts were uploaded. Since the post was made, Mr Khan has undertaken some official duties as Mayor of London, including attending a carol service organised by the Metropolitan Police at Westminster Abbey. He was not arrested.
The picture accompanying the post, showing Mr Khan being held by the arm by a police officer, is taken from the BBC sitcom Citizen Khan. Appearing in the first episode of series five, Sadiq Khan played himself in a scene that saw the police mistakenly arrest the Mayor instead of the titular Mr Khan, played by Adil Ray. The programme was first broadcast in November 2016.
Links
Original post on TikTok (archived)
TikTok post date finder (archived)
Post on X by @MayorofLondon, December 11 (archived)