RIYADH: Gulf social media users have poured scorn on online claims that Saudi state television blurred out US First Lady Michelle Obama as she accompanied her husband President Barack Obama to the Saudi capital Riyadh where they met the new Saudi king Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.
The claims were mentioned in reports that emerged on Tuesday following the visit by Obama to Riyadh where he had talks with King Salman.
However, Saudis said that the reports were erroneous and that the Saudi television beamed the welcome at the airport without blurring or leaving out the First Lady.
Pictures posted by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) included close shots of Michelle Obama alongside her husband and Saudi leaders.
Ahmad Qushmaq, a Saudi blogger, said that people just needed to watch the official broadcast, posting a link to the clip taken off Saudi national television.
Saudi Arabia did not issue an official comment on the Obama deletion allegations and the media have opted to ignore it.
However, the Saudi embassy in Washington posted on its Twitter account that report by Bloomberg Views Josh Rogin that Saudi TV blurred image of First Lady Michelle Obama is FALSE. Should check facts, not Facebook.
In a another tweet, the embassy said that it was too bad Bloomberg did not have someone monitor Saudi TV as other news outlets did.
An article in the Wall Street Journal said video clips circulated online Tuesday that purported to show that Saudi state television blurred out First Lady Michelle Obama at a meeting between President Barack Obama and the new Saudi king.
However, observers of the live broadcast including a Wall Street Journal reporter in the country said that there was no blurring of Mrs Obama, and that the broadcast showed her shaking hands with King Salman.
The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment, it added.
In a statement provided to Bloomberg View, the embassys information director said: Saudi TV has been showing the total arrival ceremony at the airport and at the Palace and nowhere is anything blurred.
Various clips posted of the ceremony elsewhere show no blurring of Mrs. Obama or of her handshake with the new king, the report said.
Mohammad Ghatam, a blogger, said that Michelle Obama was not the first high-profile woman to visit Riyadh.
Lady Diana was there back in 1986 as part of a multi-state tour to the Middle East, he said. She was of course modestly dressed, but she did not wear a headscarf and there was no fuss whatsoever, he said.
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