Gotta hand it to Barack Obama; he’s not a sore loser. At least when it comes to the race for Twitter followers.
The president reached out to Caitlyn Jenner on Monday to congratulate her on her “courage,” hours after the reveal of Jenner’s cover photo from the July issue of Vanity Fair — and only a short time after Jenner bested Obama’s record for reaching 1 million Twitter followers in the fastest timeframe.
“It takes courage to share your story,” Obama retweeted on Monday, following Jenner’s message, “I’m so happy after such a long struggle to be living my true self. Welcome to the world Caitlyn. Can’t wait for you to get to know her/me.”
Jenner, who was previously known as Bruce Jenner and rose to fame as an Olympic athlete and, later, a reality TV star, revealed her new identity on Monday. Four hours after her first Tweet, her newly launched account amassed 1 million total followers.
It takes courage to share your story. https://t.co/Q7wWjV9Rxx
– Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 1, 2015
The feat was a new Twitter record, beating out the @POTUS handle, which last month hit 1 million followers in just under five hours.
As concession speeches went, Obama’s message to Caitlyn was both pithy and gracious.
Others to offer their support of Jenner via social media on Monday include Anna Kendrick, “Scandal” star Kerry Washington, Monica Lewinsky and Ellen DeGeneres, the latter of whom wrote, “My hope for the world is that we can all be as brave as @Caitlyn_Jenner.”