Ex-South African President Nelson Mandela looks on during a statue unveiling ceremony in Nelson Mandela's honor at Parliament Square on August 29, 2007 in London, England. (File/Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) | License Photo

An image of Nelson Mandela is displayed on a screen during a memorial service for the former South African President and anti-apartheid leader, at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, December 10, 2013. Nearly 100 heads of state and roughly 100,000 mourners attended the service for Mandela who died last week at the age of 95. UPI/Jemal Countess | License Photo

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the memorial service for former South African President and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa on December 10, 2013. Nearly 100 heads of state and roughly 100,000 mourners attended the service for Mandela who died last week at the age of 95. UPI/Jemal Countess | License Photo

Dec. 10 (UPI) -- According to the U.K. deaf news blog The Limping Chicken, the sign language interpreter at the service for Nelson Mandela was a complete fake.

The interpreter, who was supposed to be signing what speakers were saying so that deaf viewers could understand, had a “strange repetitive rhythm to his movements -- his signs appearing to come in threes or fours, occasionally swinging his shoulders, as if he was signing along with an intermittent beat.”


According to the blog, “the structure of his hand and body movements didn’t seem to change no matter what the speaker was saying.”

Deaf activist Alison Bryan spotted what was going on:

@SarangaComics fake interpreter on stage at the Nelson Mandela Memorial Service. Just some random person flapping arms about. See tweets. — Alison Bryan (@Deaf) December 10, 2013 @gretchenmarie5 the Vice President of WFD (who lives in South Africa) could not understand him. As fellow SASL terps. I've retweeted them. — Alison Bryan (@Deaf) December 10, 2013 @braamjordaan @charlie_swin do you know who it is? To me this is fraud and oppression coming from the ANC. International media cd milk it. — Alison Bryan (@Deaf) December 10, 2013

She wasn’t the only one…

Fake sign language interpreter at Mandela service. “@newhoudt: ANC linked interpreter cannot sign at all, he's making up signs. […]” — Ellen de Bruin (@EllendeBruin) December 10, 2013 .@BarackObama That Sign language interpreter next to you at Mandela memorial is a fake. How he ever got that close to you, I don't know. — Tony Barlow (@Saltbar) December 10, 2013 Not cool MT @Limping_Chicken: The sign language interpreter during the #Mandela service was making up the signs http://t.co/1hRuA2lXD8” — Mike Mantin (@mikemantin) December 10, 2013 Just read that there is a fake Sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial. I bet I can Sign better than him & I'm only level 2! — Amy Simmons (@AmySimmonsUoB) December 10, 2013

The blog ended its post by saying, “Above all I feel sorry for Deaf South Africans, who should have had amazing access to the service, with an interpreter there on screen, but got this instead.”

[The Limping Chicken]