Al Qaeda has leaked a video of outtakes featuring an Islamic State fighter in Yemen trying to renew his allegiance, only to be interrupted by a loud bird that causes him to forget what he’s trying to say.
Al Qaeda titled the blooper video “The Hollywood reality of al-Baghdadi group – Part 2,” referring to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The video is intended to mock Al Qaeda’s rival, as both groups fight for territory and loyalty in Yemen.
The video was posted by Al Qaeda’s Hidayah Media Productions, and The Telegraph uploaded it to YouTube on Thursday, reporting that the footage was produced in 2017 by an ISIS branch in Yemen.
In “bloopers” from the propaganda video, a militant identified by The Telegraph as Abu Muhammad al-Adeni is seen saying, “All praises are due to Allah alone, and peace and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad” while a bird can be heard squawking loudly in the background.
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As al-Adeni trails off and takes a white piece of paper out of his pocket, a person sitting next to him says, “Stay calm.”
Al-Adeni tries to take his pledge again, but seemingly forgets the words and is seen smiling as he again reaches for the paper. He trips over his words a few more times amid more squawking.
Elizabeth Kendall of Oxford University first tweeted the video on Tuesday.
“Heroic bird relentlessly drowns out ISIS-Y’s attempt to renew allegiance to the caliph,” she said. “Leader’s feeble memory adds to the woes. … These bodged ‘takes’ didn’t make it into the official video of this solemn event, released end July.”
“One of the interesting things for me here is [Al] Qaeda do counter-narratives better than we do, using humor and mockery in a local and very clever way,” she told The Telegraph.
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She later tweeted, “The final cut of their shambolic pledge video ended with the jihadists huddled around a cooking pot, so I fear our heroic bird didn’t make it.”
“Now that ‘Business Insider’ has picked it up, anyone want to buy the film rights to ‘Black Squawk Down’?” she added.