Ukraine: Photoshopped Chuck Norris and the Ukrainian Language Day · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On Nov. 9, Ukrainian netizens marked the Ukrainian Language Day – UA Day 2011 [uk] – by posting and tweeting exclusively in Ukrainian. Cherkasy-based Fedir Gontsa [uk] decided to draw attention to the initiative by creating a photoshopped image of the American actor Chuck Norris posing with a Ukrainian language textbook, and posting it on Facebook and Twitter. This well-meaning prank was mistaken for the real thing by some Ukrainian media: the Lviv daily Vysokyi Zamok and Like.lb.ua both ran the fake photo and reported that Chuck Norris had actually met with members of the Ukrainian Diaspora in Ontario, Canada. Roman Golubovsky posts a chronology of this incident [uk], interviews Gontsa, and writes that “the story deserves a mention in journalism textbooks.”