Did a German comedian fake Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis giving Germany the finger?

The diplomatic controversy over Yanis Varoufakis' middle finger has just taken a brilliant new twist.

German media got hold of a 2013 video of Varoufakis giving a speech in which he raised his middle finger and suggested that Greece "stick the finger to Germany" (talking about the country's crisis in 2010).

Varoufakis said the video was fake.

The general reaction when the finance minister suggested the video was "doctored" was one of incredulity - of course it wasn't, it looked totally real.

But now a video of German comedian Jan Böhmermann admitting to faking the video has been released, and he's shown how he could have done it. It looks extremely convincing, but then again, so did the first video. He's the same guy who did the brilliant V for Varoufakis video a few weeks ago.

Böhmermann's video has raised as many questions as it solves. Is he faking faking it? Was it really doctored? Is the comic just jumping in on the joke? Böhmermann could simply be lying - meaning Varoufakis is also lying, and the footage is real after all. The image sent German tabloid media into a tailspin over Varoufakis' "mittelfinger-streit", or "stinkefinger".

The footage was originally aired on by popular German TV presenter Günther Jauch, and the "doctoring" or lack of it may be a joke at his expense. Jauch's show has responded, according to AFP:

Jauch's show, which draws millions of viewers, said Monday it had seen "no indication whatsoever of manipulation or falsification in the video shown during the live show".

It said the video was being further checked by experts.

Check out the full video of Böhmermann saying he doctored the footage - at the very least, it's enough to make your head spin.

And just to complete it, here's the video of the original unveiling of the finger on Jauch's show last week, which is worth a look if you haven't seen it.