Internet Culture

Did CNN ‘blackmail’ the Reddit user who made the Trump–CNN GIF?

What was the network thinking?

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David Covucci

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Austin Powell

trump cnn wresting gif

The drama behind President Trump’s CNN GIF is turning into a professional wrestling-style spectacle in real life, and it’s unclear anymore who the real villain is.

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On July 2, Trump tweeted a GIF—edited footage from his real-life 2007 Wrestlemania appearance, with the CNN logo superimposed on the head of his in-character adversary Vince McMahon—with the hashtags #FraudNewsCNN and #FNN. It became his most popular tweet of all time, drawing ire from sides of the aisle for its juvenile tone and apparent endorsement of violence against journalists, especially in the wake of the Ben Jacobs/Greg Gianforte assault.

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The GIF was created by a user of Reddit’s The_Donald, a controversial forum for the president’s most fervent supporters, which first gained national notoriety for rigging online debate polls in his favor during the 2016 election.

The user, HanAssholeSolo, was initially ecstatic that Trump used his GIF. He was dubbed a “meme master” on the site and became something of a minor celebrity. “Holy shit!! I wake up and have my morning coffee and who retweets my shitpost but the MAGA EMPORER himself!!! I am honored!!” the user wrote.

This is not the first time the president has drawn Twitter fodder from the community, once retweeting an old Rosie O’Donnell tweet r/The_Donald had surfaced.

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But the user has changed his tune considerably since then. He deleted his Reddit account and issued a lengthy apology for the GIF and other posts, but—in a classic heel turn—critics contend that CNN was twisting his arm.

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Over the holiday, CNN’s investigative unit KFILE spoke with the user behind the GIF, which led to his public apology, which was published on both CNN and in a post on Reddit.

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,” he wrote. “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. I am not the person that the media portrays me to be in real life, I was trolling and posting things to get a reaction from the subs on reddit and never meant any of the hateful things I said in those posts.

In its article, CNN announced it would not disclose his name “out of fear for his personal safety and for the public embarrassment it would bring to him and his family.” But CNN included this curious snippet.

CNN is not publishing “HanA**holeSolo’s” name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.

CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.

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Almost immediately, people pounced on that phrasing, claiming that the news organization was threatening to dox HanAssholeSolo. Many on Twitter and Reddit saw it as blackmail.

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Infowars’ Paul Joseph Watson, a longtime CNN foe, led a fervent charge.

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Doxing, or the public release of private information, is a complicated issue. Some believe a right to privacy is absolute, while others argue that outing someone creates necessary public accountability.

CNN’s curious decision did not sit well with virtually anyone. The alt-right jumped up all over it as another way to discredit the network. The_Donald is organizing a petition to contact CNN advertisers, and Donald Trump Jr. has lent his support to the cause.

https://twitter.com/thedonaldreddit/status/882560247247798274

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But members of the media on the left were equally uncomfortable with the network’s choice of words.

https://twitter.com/PhillyD/status/882414724263976960

https://twitter.com/germanrlopez/status/882432586865397760

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https://twitter.com/germanrlopez/status/882433038935785474

https://twitter.com/germanrlopez/status/882433468113838080

https://twitter.com/germanrlopez/status/882434539460718593

https://twitter.com/germanrlopez/status/882435429320052736

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Andrew Kaczynski, the author of the post, denied that the way CNN handled the matter was in any way blackmail.

https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/882417992717537280

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https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/882438606270410752

The issue is complicated by the fact that the user has tweeted anti-Semitic imagery before, specifically about CNN and its reporters—a point that, before his article’s language was called out by Twitter, Kaczinski tweeted about.

https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/882418809046528000

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Regardless, after brewing over the evening, the matter has hit the mainstream, with Fox News effectively declaring that CNN was “the most trusted name in blackmail.”

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There may be only one way to settle this: in the ring.

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Update 11:01am CT, July 5: CNN issued a statement regarding the article, saying that any assertion that its reporters made a deal with HanAssholeSolo for threatened him in any way was false.

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CNN also refuted a rumor that had been percolating among right-leaning circles on Twitter that the meme creator was a 15-year-old boy. According to CNN, he is an adult male.

 
The Daily Dot