Updated 03:05 PM EDT, Fri, May 03, 2024

Nelson Mandela 'Fake' Sign Language Translation Revealed, and It's Hilarious

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Let’s go over a brief rundown of the matter at hand. First, Nelson Mandela, one of the world’s last great liberators, according to Barack Obama, passed away last week. Then at his memorial service, the sign language interpreter was pinned as a fraud, fake signing throughout the entire service. In an unexpected turn of events, the interpreter claimed that he was having a schizophrenic episode during the ceremony that caused him to hallucinate and hear voices. The company that hired him then disappeared. Now, in an attempt to clear up the confusion, a real sign language interpreter has revealed what the fake one was signing.

Although Thamsanqa Jantjie was signing complete gibberish, he was signing full words and phrases, and when they’re spoken out loud, it’s hilarious. Jimmy Kimmel invited his show’s resident sign language interpreter to read Jantjie’s signs on a recent episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Check out the clip below.

Jantjie told the Associated Press that he saw angels flying into Johannesburg’s FNB stadium, which is a touching story in itself. “What happened that day, I see angels come to the stadium,” he said. “I start realizing that the problem is here.”

At first, the sight of angels warms the soul. They denote Mandela’s peaceful passing into heaven. But Jantjie was nervous. He said that similar episodes have triggered many violent reactions in the past.

“Sometimes I react violent on that place. Sometimes I will see things that chase me,” he said. “And remember those people, the president and everyone, they were armed, there was armed police around me. If I start panicking I’ll start being a problem. I have to deal with this in a manner so that I mustn’t embarrass my country.”

Regardless, he stuck it out, and although he signed nonsense throughout the entire ceremony, he kept his cool and provided us all with a hearty chuckle.

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