The White House Correspondents Association said it was “horrified” by a violent video depicting President Trump stabbing, shooting and impaling the media and top political opponents like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney, shown at a conference for his supporters at Trump’s Miami resort last week.
“The WHCA is horrified by a video reportedly shown over the weekend at a political conference organized by the President’s supporters at Trump National Doral in Miami,” said the statement from President Jonathan Karl on Sunday. The group called for Americans to condemn the depiction of violence against journalists and the president’s political opponents.
Later on Monday morning, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said via Twitter that Trump will see the video shortly and that, “based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns this video.”
The New York Times first reported of the existence of the video, which it said was played at a three-day conference was held by the pro-Trump group American Priority. The video, a digitally altered version of a scene from 2015’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service” inserts Trump’s head on the body of the shooter as well as media logos and the faces of Democratic rivals on the victims.
Journalists reacted quickly. Karl, who is also ABC News’ Chief White House correspondent, called it “dangerous” on Twitter. Politico’s Andrew Desiderio wrote, “This is an incitement to violence that didn’t just come from the dark corners of the Internet — it was shown at a pro-Trump conference at one of his resorts. I’m speechless.”
CNN issued a statement calling on Trump to condemn it: “The president and his family, the White House and the Trump campaign need to denounce it immediately in the strongest possible terms,” the network said in a statement. “Anything less equates to a tacit endorsement of violence and should not be tolerated by anyone.”
And Kathy Griffin, who sparked outrage for a photo shoot in which she held Trump’s severed head, also spoke out on Twitter: “Im depicted as being murdered by The President of the United States in this video.The left, right & center left me hanging out to dry regarding the Trump mask photo. Please don’t let it happen again. No, this video isn’t a joke to his followers. And it will not be taken as such.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A statement on the Twitter account for American Priority called the video “unauthorized” and said it was shown in a side room. “The video was not approved, seen, or sanctioned by the #AMPFest19 organizers,” it says. It goes on to criticize the Times for not reporting on “any of the sanctioned events in the article.”
15 Stars Who Imagined Violence Against Donald Trump, From Kathy Griffin to Pearl Jam (Photos)
Since the election, several celebrities have voiced their displeasure -- even anger -- with the Trump administration. Some have gone so far as to suggest violent measures. From Robert De Niro to Snoop Dogg, here are some left-leaning noteworthy people who have fanned themes of violence toward Trump and the GOP.
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Mickey Rourke
In a TMZ video from 2015, this boxer-turned-actor directed his rage toward Trump, calling him a "big-mouthed bitch bully," saying he would "love 30 seconds in a room with the little bitch." Rourke has also expressed a desire to "give [Trump] a Louisville slugger."
In late February 2016, the host of Comedy Central's now-canceled "The Nightly Show" joked about then-candidate Donald Trump: “I don’t want to give him any more oxygen. That’s not a euphemism, by the way. I mean it literally. Somebody get me the pillow they used to kill [Supreme Court Justice Antonin] Scalia and I’ll do it — I’ll do it!"
George Lopez
During the Republican primaries in March 2016, the Mexican American comedian tweeted a cartoon image of former Mexican president Vincente Fox holding the decapitated head of Donald Trump aloft, with the caption "Make America Great Again."
Marilyn Manson
Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson had to take his turn in the Trump-bashing festivities. In a teaser video for his song, "Say10," released just after the 2016 election, a Trump-like figure wearing a suit and a red tie lies decapitated on a concrete floor, in a pool of his own blood.
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Rosie O'Donnell
In July 2017, O'Donnell tweeted out a link to a game called "Push Trump Off A Cliff Again." This made many conservatives want to push her off a cliff, not POTUS.
Madonna told a crowd of thousands at the Women's March on Washington in January 2017 that she had “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House." The singer's profanity-riddled jab at the Republican administration provoked the anger of many conservatives.
The actor is not afraid to express his disdain for the commander in chief. De Niro confirmed to ABC's "The View" in February 2017 that he would like to punch Trump in the face. He clarified earlier comments, saying "It wasn’t like I was gonna go find him and [really] punch him in the face, but he’s gotta hear it."
Snoop Dogg's music video for "Lavender," released in March 2017, (literally) paints POTUS as a clown and orchestrates his death. At the video's end, the "Gin and Juice" rapper points a gun at the harlequin Trump figure and shoots. But instead of a bullet, a red flag that reads "Bang!" fires out of the gun.
The comedian landed in hot water in May 2017 after photos surfaced of her holding a fake bloody, decapitated Trump head. Griffin was promptly dropped from her annual New Year's Eve gig by CNN. Toilet stool company Squatty Potty also pulled its ads featuring Griffin. Trump himself called the photos "sick" and tweeted that his youngest son, Barron, was "having a hard time" with the images. Griffin later apologized.
The nonprofit theater staged a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in May-June 2017 that made conservative viewers want to revolt. In the production, a Trumplike figure playing the title role is stabbed to death by a band of angry Senators. The Public Theater subsequently lost sponsorships from Delta Airlines and Bank of America.
The musician's new video, released in June 2017, is simultaneously nostalgic and dystopian. In 1980s cartoon fashion, a giant Transformer-like Trump morphs into a swastika/dollar sign and wreaks havoc on a city before meeting a fiery, explosive demise.
During an appearance at the U.K.'s 2017 Glastonbury music and arts festival, the actor tore into the president -- "I think Trump needs help" -- and then made an ill-considered joke: “When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?” Depp claimed his joke was misconstrued and eventually issued an apology.
Asked what he'd serve at a peace summit between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, the celebrity chef told a TMZ video crew in 2017: "Hemlock."
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Big Sean
In February 2017 rapper Big Sean rapped a verse about killing the President on his "I Decided" album. The lyrics are, “And I might just kill ISIS with the same icepick/That I murder Donald Trump in the same night with."
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Pearl Jam
At a show in Montana in August 2018 that served as a fundraiser for Sen. Jon Tester, the Seattle-based rockers released a cartoon poster commemorating the show that featured a bald eagle picking at the rotting corpse of President Trump on the White House lawn.
Some celebrities have been more than outspoken in their criticism of the Republican president
Since the election, several celebrities have voiced their displeasure -- even anger -- with the Trump administration. Some have gone so far as to suggest violent measures. From Robert De Niro to Snoop Dogg, here are some left-leaning noteworthy people who have fanned themes of violence toward Trump and the GOP.