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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Victoria Bekiempis in New York

Trump cries fake news as image of dramatic orange tan line goes viral

Trump on the White House’s south lawn on Friday, with swept-back, wind-blown hair and tan.
Trump on the White House’s south lawn on Friday, with swept-back, wind-blown hair and tan. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Reuters

An image of a windswept Donald Trump, which appears to show a dramatic forehead tan line through his blown-back blond hair, has gone viral – prompting the hashtag #orangeface to trend on Twitter.

This image was posted late Friday afternoon to an unverified Twitter account called White House Photos, which describes itself as the account of a “White House Correspondent, Journalist, Photographer, Poet and Pesco Vegetarian” named “William Moon”.

White House Photos tweeted a black-and-white version of the image shortly thereafter, with the caption: “Today, ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ was dancing with the sunset and strong winds when he walked to the Oval Office from the Marine One on the South Lawn.. Photo by William Moon in the White House on February 7, 2020.”

Trump, who is known to be sensitive about his appearance, did not take kindly to this image and said on Twitter of the black-and-white version on Saturday: “More Fake News. This was photoshopped, obviously, but the wind was strong and the hair looks good? Anything to demean!”

Although there are other photos of Trump at that time showing tan lines, the contrast is not as dramatic, Vox pointed out – prompting questions about its authenticity. White House Photos later said in a tweet: “This picture was never photoshopped, but used the Apple smartphone’s photo app to adjust the color of the picture.”

U.S. President Donald Trump attends the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, U.S. February 8, 2018.
Donald Trump attends the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, on 8 February. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

People on the internet didn’t worry too much about its authenticity – or Trump’s hurt feelings – in lampooning him.

One user wrote: “The stain of impeachment never washes off.”

And one meme featured the caption: “Tupperware after you store spaghetti in it.”

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