Hollywood celebrities had a collective freakout on social media Sunday after President Donald Trump tweeted a video from an old wrestling event in which he “body slammed” a man, with the video altered to show a CNN logo superimposed on the man’s head.
Trump’s tweet came after CNN was forced to retract a story last week that had falsely linked presidential transition team member and Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci to a Kremlin-backed Russian investment fund. Three CNN staffers resigned after the retraction, and President Trump captioned his Sunday morning tweet with the hashtags “#FraudNewsCNN” and “#FNN.”
CNN responded to the video with its own statement Sunday, calling it a “sad day” when the president “encourages violence against reporters.”
“Clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied when she said the President had never done so. Instead of preparing for his overseas trip, his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, dealing with North Korea and working on his health care bill, he is involved in juvenile behavior far below the dignity of his office,” a spokesperson for the network said in a statement. “We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his.”
The video caused a stir all over cable news, and celebrities were also eager to weigh in with their reactions. Actor Will Poulter called the tweet “terrifying,” while director Ava DuVernay said the tweet came from a “clearly diminished man.”
Fifth Harmony member Lauren Jauregui put it more bluntly: “How the f*ck are you a president,” she tweeted.
Below, find more celebrity reaction to Trump’s tweet.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum