Remember that video of Donald Trump clotheslining an anthropomorphised version of CNN? And how it was reposted on the President’s own Twitter account?
Well, the Reddit user originally responsible for the animation has now issued an apology for the mess he’s created, telling other users on the site’s Trump fan-forum that “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.”
User HanAssholeSolo – yes, really – posted the lengthy apology on the site this morning, after the video drew mass condemnation. New York Times journalist Jared Yates Sexton, who broke the news the video originated from Reddit, also spoke about threats he received when his story was published.
Citing concerns Trump reposting the clip was tantamount to encouraging violence against members of the media, HanAssholeSolo wrote “just because you are behind a keyboard doesn’t mean you can’t hurt someone with your words or cause a situation such as this one where a simple meme is misconstrued as calling for violence.”
The user also addressed a series of other inflammatory posts he made to
/r/The_Donald, including comments that were outright
racist, Islamophobic, and
anti-Semitic. They claimed their shitposting was equivalent to an
“addiction”.
“I am in no way this kind of person,” HanAssholeSolo says about the now-deleted posts.
“I love and accept people from all walks of life and have done so for my entire life.”
Curiously, the apology – which asks other users not to “feed your self-worth based on inflicting suffering on others online” – has been deleted from /r/The_Donald, and comments on the thread have been locked.
The responses that
were able to be
posted aren’t exactly supportive of HanAssholeSolo’s newfound take on CNN, either.
While HanAssholeSolo didn’t mention any threats they had received, it is possible that the apology comes after someone discovered their actual identity. Equally possible: this is another act of trolling, designed to stoke further discussion on the matter, before a gloating “gotcha!” moment where it’s revealed the user isn’t sorry at all.
But, for the moment, we have this takeaway: even the anus-referencing Redditor who concocted a low-res wrestling GIF has walked away from it, while the President Of The United States Of America is still brandishing it on his most famous public platform.
