Revealed: What The Fake Sign Language Interpreter Really Said At Mandela's Memorial Service

"You came in like a wrecking ball."

Dec. 11, 2013 - The "sign language interpreter" at South Africa's memorial service for Nelson Mandela yesterday is being called a fraud.

But is he really a fake? A new video (below) offers a spoken interpretation of the man's signing.

The unidentified man stood next to world leaders paying homage to Mandela. On Tuesday the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa said he was a fake. Authorities don't know who he was - let alone how he was able to get on stage. People around the globe are scratching their heads, wondering if the man was for real or faking his signing.

"The scandal over the interpreter," reports Associated Press, "is another indication of bad organization of the historic memorial service at a huge soccer stadium. Other difficulties included public transportation breakdowns which hindered mourners from getting to the event and a faulty audio system that prevented many of the tens of thousands in the stadium from hearing the leaders' speeches." Full AP story...

Here is the video with spoken interpretation of the signer's gestures. Transcript follows.


Transcript of spoken interpretation: 

• "You came in like a wrecking ball."
• "Freshly chopped martyrs, put them in hot oil for around fifteen minutes, fry them, put the onions in, caramelize the onions, add some chicken and wait until it's all cooked nicely through."
• "Psycho killer, qu'est que c'est, fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa, and run run run run run run away. Oh ho, oh ho ho ho, ay yay yay yay yay yay."
• "Cut the rice, put it on, on boiling water. Turn it off and .... put a lid on. Help, I need somebody. Help, I need somebody. Help, just anybody. Anybody."