WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump “strongly condemns” a graphic and violent parody video that depicts a likeness of him shooting and stabbing opponents and members of the news media, the White House said Monday. But his press secretary said he hadn’t yet watched the two-minute clip.
The video, which drew widespread condemnation, was played during a conference held by conservative supporters of the president at his Miami golf resort last week.
It depicts a gruesome scene inside a “Church of Fake News” in which a figure whose face has been replaced with an image of Trump goes on a shooting rampage, targeting a long list of political rivals, including Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, former President Barack Obama and numerous news organizations.
The video, the existence of which The New York Times was first to report, was notable for its level of violence. It is part of a growing genre of pro-Trump memes that routinely earn thousands of views on sites like YouTube and Twitter. Many use superimposed faces and feature the president and his chief supporters valiantly conquering challengers or members of the media.
The one featured at the Florida conference appears to have been first posted in July 2018 on the YouTube channel “TheGeekzTeam,” where it has been viewed more than 250,000 times. It uses a violent clip from the 2015 spy thriller “Kingsman: The Secret Service.” In the original scene, actor Colin Firth is depicted shooting a crowd of possessed churchgoers.