Berto Romero and the flamethrower hoax: anatomy of a doctored clip

Berto Romero and the flamethrower hoax: how a 'red' is manufactured

Is Berto Romero a lousy commie or simply a comedian who gets paid to make people laugh? The question, which sounds like a bar joke, hides a very specific mechanism behind it: a doctored video, a swapped photo and a political label that sticks in a matter of seconds. The trigger is a clip in which the comedian supposedly appears defending something related to a flamethrower and the unvaccinated during the pandemic. The reality, as several voices agree, is that **the original footage was not Berto**: it showed another public figure instead, and the doctored clip is already several years old.

Is the Berto Romero flamethrower video real?

No. At least not as it is being spread. The version circulating is **manipulated**, and those who have traced the original point out that the photo overlaid on it corresponds to a political leader, not the comedian. The material being shared is itself years old, which has not stopped it from circulating again as if it were new. The mechanics are textbook: take an old clip, swap the protagonist and throw it into the arena. The result works because **nobody checks the source** before sharing.

From comedian to 'lousy commie': how a comedian gets labelled

The leap from "I like him as a comedian" to "lousy commie" is the heart of the matter. The label does not come from an electoral programme or a rally: it comes from a doctored clip. Even so, some argue that **Berto has never flaunted any particular ideology** and that, unlike other comedians, he does not use politics as material for his monologues. Against that, the underlying suspicion: mainstream media do not admit anyone who refuses to toe the ideological line. Two readings that cannot be proven with a fake video.

The 'flamethrower' of discord: what he is really accused of

The most repeated accusation is that Berto would have called for using a flamethrower against the unvaccinated during the elbichito "drama". It is a phrase attributed to him, not a phrase that has been proven. And there lies the problem: **an attribution without proof becomes a conviction** as soon as it is repeated enough times. The comedian himself ends up on a kind of list of grievances that is hard to escape, even though the origin is a doctored clip. The paradox is that the hoax survives better than the correction.

The Catalan origins and the grandparents from Murcia: the résumé that doesn't fit

There is one detail that throws off the red-hunters: **three of Berto's four grandparents are from Murcia**, a fact he has mentioned himself and which appears in his public biography. The fourth is Catalan. In other words, the man being assigned a monolithic political identity has a family tree that does not match the cliché. That detail, which should settle the discussion, does not: the label comes before the facts.

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In the end, the question is not whether Berto is a red. The question is how many of those calling him a red have seen the original video. Spoiler: almost none.