In what probably reads like a Chaser headline (and we promise, it’s not), US federal employees returned to office this week to a pretty startling surprise — an AI-generated video of President Donald Trump licking the toes of tech billionaire Elon Musk playing on screens.
Accompanied by the words “LONG LIVE THE KING!”, the video played on loop throughout the Washington headquarters of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for several minutes.
And in no surprise, it quickly made its way to social media.
Independent journalist Maria Kabas was among those to share the video, explaining that building staff couldn’t figure out how to turn it off and resorted to sending people to every floor to unplug the TVs, per an agency source.
(Source: Bluesky)
No one’s claimed responsibility for the hack so far, but as reported by New York Magazine, the video’s text could be in reference to Trump’s Truth Social post last week in which he celebrated his administration’s move to kill congestion pricing in New York City, writing “LONG LIVE THE KING!”
The move also coincides with government orders for staff to return to office — which has received pretty mixed reactions — as well as reports the Trump administration was mulling a proposal to cut half of the workforce at the housing department.
Most recently, instructions sent out this weekend from Musk and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) asked over two million federal employees to “reply to this email with approx. 5 bullet points of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager” by the end of the day on Monday. No doubt that would’ve ruffled feathers.
Trump even seemed to endorsed the email, poking fun at the outrage by posting a SpongeBob SquarePants meme on Truth Social on Sunday.
(Source: Truth Social)
Understandably, HUD wasn’t amused and department spokesperson Kasey Lovett described the latest stunt as “another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources”.
“Appropriate action will be taken for all involved,” she said in an email, per Reuters.
But the internet’s already had a field day with this one, with one Reddit user joking “Imagine coming to work and seeing THIS first thing in the morning”.
One quipped “those “IT ‘upgrades’ are sure going well” and another piped in: “The guy who knows how to turn off a TV got laid off last week.”
You bet we’ll be keeping an eye out to see what Trump has to say. Another petty moment à la Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl, perhaps?
Lead image: Getty Images / Twitter
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