Fact Check: Did Denmark Play the Song “Send in the Clowns” Before Signing the US-Greenland Security Agreement?

Social media posts claim Denmark deliberately played the song “Send in the Clowns” before US President Donald Trump joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen for a deal signing ceremony at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

The complaint was shared on X, Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram.

On X, for example, a post was viewed more than 1.3 million times.

The shared clip shows a close-up of a camera on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio while the song’s lyrics include the line: “Where are the clowns? Send in the clowns. Don’t bother, they’re here.”

While most posts claimed that Denmark chose the song, one Instagram post went further, declaring: “Denmark just humiliated Marco Rubio at the United Nations!”

However, none of these claims are true.

There is no evidence that Danish authorities or the media selected the music played before the September 22 event.

The signing ceremony sealed a new security agreement between the United States, Denmark and Greenland, after months of tensions linked to the American president’s efforts to take control of the autonomous Danish territory.

Le Cube, Euronews’ fact-checking team, contacted the Danish Foreign Ministry, which said Denmark was not involved in the choice of music during the signing.

Yet “Send in the Clowns” was nevertheless one of the tracks played before the event while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in the room.

The song, written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1973 musical “A Little Night Music,” was performed by Judy Collins.

A rebroadcast on UN television shows the song played moments before Trump walked in to sign the deal with Frederiksen and Nielsen.

The U.S. mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

United States-Denmark-Greenland Agreement

The deal was reached after 10 months of negotiations and aimed to end a diplomatic standoff triggered by Trump’s repeated demands to take control of Greenland and his refusal to rule out the use of military force.

The United States will be allowed to expand its military presence in Greenland through the modernization and expansion of its current space base at Pituffik and the creation of new defense zones, including at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig.

The agreement will also allow the United States “free access to and movement between” Greenland’s defense zones, “including territorial waters, by land, air and sea,” according to terms of the agreement shared online by the Danish Foreign Ministry.

American planes can also fly over and land on any territory on the island.

The United States reportedly operated 17 military installations and more than 10,000 troops in Greenland during the height of the Cold War.

It currently operates only one base on the island, Pituffik Space Base, the U.S. Department of Defense’s northernmost facility.

According to the US Space Force, Pituffik is used for missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance missions.

In a statement, Frederiksen said the agreement “strengthens our common security in the Arctic and North Atlantic area,” while Nielsen said it was “in the interests of all of us.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also welcomed the new agreement.

On X, he wrote that the agreement strengthens the collective security of NATO members and supports a more secure and stable future for all.

Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Located between the Arctic and North America, it is also considered strategically important to the United States.