Donald Trump has claimed he had nothing to do with an AI-generated image which showed him dressed as the pope – despite the fact he shared it from his own social media account.
Over the weekend, the White House social media accounts posted the picture which depicted the president as the pope. This came after Trump had told reporters he would like to be the next pontiff after the death of Pope Francis.
The picture was then shared by Trump on his own Truth Social account, a move which was criticised by large parts of the Catholic community, who accused the president of mocking their faith.
This included the New York State Catholic Conference, who said in a statement that there is “nothing clever or funny” about the picture.
But when Trump was asked by a reporter at the White House about the controversy, he said Catholics had “loved” the picture.
After the reporter mentioned that some Catholics were unhappy about the image, Trump interrupted: “You mean they can’t take a joke?
In a typical nonsense rant, Trump hit out at the “fake news media” for the image, and said Catholics had “loved” it.
“You don’t mean the Catholics, you mean the fake news media. The Catholics loved it,” he said.
Trump went on to claim that he “had nothing to do” with the image, saying someone had made the picture and “put it out on the internet.”
He continued: “That’s not me that did it, I had no idea where it came from. Maybe it was AI.
“But I know nothing about it, I just saw it last evening. Actually, my wife thought it was cute.”
Trump then joked about how pope’s “aren’t big on getting married,” before saying: “I think it’s the fake news media, they’re fakers.”
On social media, some have accused the president of ‘mocking’ Catholics
In a statement responding the AI image, the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents bishops in New York, said: “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President.
“We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St Peter. Do not mock us.”
The picture was also slammed by former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, who said it “offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the right-wing world enjoys clowning around.”
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