The Reddit user who created the video of President Donald Trump body-slamming a man with the CNN logo superimposed on his head has issued an apology.
The Redditor, who goes by the username “HanA–holeSolo” on the discussion website, first shared the 28-second clip on Wednesday, June 28. Four days later, on Sunday, July 2, the former Celebrity Apprentice host, 71, sparked outrage when he reposted the video on his personal Twitter account, adding the caption, “#FraudNewsCNN.”
#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017
In a statement released Sunday morning, CNN pointed out that Trump’s decision to tweet the controversial video contradicted White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders‘ recent claim that he has never promoted violence. “It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters. Clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied when she said the President had never done so,” the network said. “Instead of preparing for his overseas trip, his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, dealing with North Korea and working on his health care bill, he is instead involved in juvenile behavior far below the dignity of his office. We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his.”
The anonymous Reddit user behind the clip took to the site’s message board on Tuesday, July 4, to issue a public apology in a post that has since been deleted. “First of all, I would like to apologize to the members of the reddit community for getting this site and this sub embroiled in a controversy that should never have happened,” the user wrote, via BuzzFeed News. “I would also like to apologize for the posts made that were racist, bigoted and anti-semitic. I am in no way this kind of person, I love and accept people of all walks of life and have done so for my entire life.”
The user continued, “I do not advocate violence against the press and the meme I posted was in no way advocating that in any way, shape or form. Our first amendment protects the press from things like violence, and we as American citizens should respect that even if the opinions of the press are not in line with our own. The meme was created purely as satire, it was not meant to be a call to violence against CNN or any other news affiliation. … It was a prank, nothing more.”
Despite bipartisan backlash, Trump has not issued an apology for his tweet.
