Internet sleuths got to work after the White House reportedly had an "unflattering" photo of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holding her son removed from online photo agencies.
On Tuesday, Status reported that Leavitt strongly disliked a November photo taken at an upward angle of herself with her young son and a turkey named Waddle, prompting her to contact Agence France-Presse (AFP) about it. The image was later removed from AFP’s archive, which also led to its removal from Getty Images.
You can see it below.
AFP, which distributes dozens of photos of White House officials each day, removed the image from circulation after editor-in-chief Mehdi Lebouachera concluded that it did not meet the agency’s editorial standards, AFP spokesperson Grégoire Lemarchand told People in a statement.
Lemarchand said the agency knew the White House was unhappy with the photo of Leavitt, her son and a turkey named Waddle. However, he emphasized that the White House did not formally request that it be removed and that the decision was not the result of outside pressure.
He said:
"There was no formal request [from the White House] to remove it, nor was there any external pressure involved.” ...
“The angle was poor and, more importantly, we already had a selection of superior images from the same event available on the wire. Our editor-in-chief had already expressed reservations about the quality of the frame from the start.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, TMZ got a hold of the photo in question and shared it.
Liberal influencer Brian Krassenstein also jokingly urged his followers "Please don’t you dare share it," ensuring they'd do just that—and that the White House's efforts would be in vain.
People immediately had thoughts.
The news of the White House's efforts to scrub Leavitt's photo comes just weeks after the Pentagon announced it would ban some press photographers from briefings about the Iran war due to their "unflattering" photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
On March 2, just four days after the Trump administration authorized strikes on Iran, the Defense Department held a press briefing that marked the first time Hegseth had spoken from the Pentagon briefing room podium since June 26.
Several major outlets, including the Associated Press, Reuters, and Getty Images, sent photographers to cover the briefing. But after the agencies distributed their images, which are widely licensed to news organizations around the world, members of Hegseth’s staff complained internally that they disliked how Hegseth appeared in the photos.
According to two people familiar with the matter, his aides then barred photographers from the next two Pentagon briefings, held March 4 and March 10.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson defended the move, saying that if it "hurts the business model for certain news outlets, then they should consider applying for a Pentagon press credential.”
These developments aren't helping MAGA's case that they're not snowflakes.
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