--- title: Sign Language Interpreter At Mandela Service Used 'Meaningless Hand Movements' | TIME description: Deaf community reacts to "humiliating" interpretation of several world dignitaries' speeches during Nelson Mandela's memorial service Tuesday. canonical: https://time.com/video/jbnG6tBf/ og:title: Sign Language Interpreter At Mandela Service Used 'Meaningless Hand Movements' og:description: Deaf community reacts to "humiliating" interpretation of several world dignitaries' speeches during Nelson Mandela's memorial service Tuesday. og:url: https://time.com/video/jbnG6tBf/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jbnG6tBf/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sign Language Interpreter At Mandela Service Used 'Meaningless Hand Movements' twitter:description: Deaf community reacts to "humiliating" interpretation of several world dignitaries' speeches during Nelson Mandela's memorial service Tuesday. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jbnG6tBf/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Sign Language Interpreter At Mandela Service Used 'Meaningless Hand Movements' > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Sign Language Interpreter At Mandela Service Used 'Meaningless Hand Movements' [Watch (HLS stream): Sign Language Interpreter At Mandela Service Used 'Meaningless Hand Movements'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jbnG6tBf.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2013-12-11. Deaf community reacts to "humiliating" interpretation of several world dignitaries' speeches during Nelson Mandela's memorial service Tuesday._ --- Jul 27, 2023 4:01 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Mandela's sign language interpreter's return to fame](/video/lJVLT2c3/) ### Mandela's sign language interpreter's return to fame [World Reacts To Nelson Mandela's Passing](/video/nkpU2trX/) ### World Reacts To Nelson Mandela's Passing [Nelson Mandela's Life and Leadership](/video/CxEd6Igs/) ### Nelson Mandela's Life and Leadership --- ## Transcript >> The leader of the free world among others speaking in memory about South Africa's beloved hero, but the person getting the most attention now, the man standing beside the dignitaries at Nelson Mandela's memorial service. >> The Deaf Federation of South Africa has said that that man was a fake, that he was appearing to make communication through sign language, but it was actually meaningless hand movements that he was doing. >> The possibility that the sign language interpreter wasn't actually signing anything at all was first supported by the Age in Australia, but quickly spread as the Associated Press talked to both a deaf member of the South African parliament and the director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa, who wrote in a tweet Tuesday, please get rid of this clown interpreter. Questions began immediately over why the man was used as an interpreter, along with security questions of how he got on stage with so many important world leaders. But the BBC reports the unidentified man may not be so much a fake as inept. >> We should just say that we've heard from our correspondent in Johannesburg who says that he has actually been at government functions in the past. So he isn't just anyone. >> A deaf news and blog site out of the UK wrote Tuesday, above all, I feel sorry for deaf South Africans. We should have had amazing access to the service with a top- class interpreter there on screen, but got this instead. CNN reports the South African government spokeswoman declined to comment in the immediate aftermath of the interpreter's apparent outing saying she needed to figure out who hired the man. 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