Rihanna Names Her Child After Rakesh Tikait? No, It's a Fake Tweet!

The screenshot is not of the actual tweet by the UK-based newspaper The Independent.

Fact-Check | The claim states that Rihanna will be naming her child after Tikait. But it is false. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A screenshot of a tweet from a UK-based newspaper The Independent is going viral with a claim that singer Rihanna has said that she will name her child after the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Singh Tikait.

Rihanna, an international singer, had showed her support to the Indian farmers during their protest in January 2021.

Tikait had welcomed the support from international artistes and activists, while also acknowledging that he did not know them.

We, however, found that the screenshot in question is fake and there is no official word on the name of Rihanna's unborn child.

CLAIM

A post on social media has been shared with a caption that reads, "रिहाना ने अपने होने वाले बच्चे का नाम टिकैत रखेगी। अब समझ आ रहा है टिकैत बार बार आंदोलन में क्यो जाता था"

(Translation: Rihanna will name her unborn child 'Tikait'. Now I understand why Tikait used to go to the farmers' protest.)

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook /Screenshot)

Archived versions of similar claims on Facebook and Twitter can be seen here, here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

On conducting a keyword search on Google, we came across a tweet by The Independent from 14 March, which carried the same article.

The Independent's tweet from 14 March.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

On comparing the viral tweet with this, we noticed an error.

The edited screenshot shows a darker verified mark beside the newspaper's name, whereas the original tweet's verification mark is a shade lighter.

On comparing the screen from the viral post with the original post, a lot of differences could be observed. 

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot Altered by The Quint)

In an email exchange, The Independent confirmed to The Quint that the screenshot wasn't real.

The screenshot from the viral post shows an attached article with a headline that reads, "Rihanna reflects on 'rebellious' pregnancy style." Upon searching the headline on Google, we were directed to the article of The Independent.

The article has no mention of Rihanna naming her baby after Tikait as claimed in the screenshot.

Instead, it speaks about the singer's fashion style during her pregnancy.

The article talked about Rihanna's maternity clothes. 

(Source: Website /Screenshot)

A report from US magazine mentions that the singer had revealed in February that she intended to honour her and ASAP Rocky's Barbados heritage with her child's name.

Evidently, the claims of Rihanna naming her unborn child after Tikait are false.

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