An animated cartoon posted by New York Times Opinion portraying Donald Trump in a gay romance with Vladimir Putin has been met with overwhelming backlash online. After posting the video on Twitter, the outlet received almost universal criticism from followers hammering its “embarrassing” and “homophobic” content.
The one-minute video depicts President Trump in a gay romance with Russian President Putin, a popular meme among progressives despite their general condemnation of such overtly homophobic smears. After getting himself ready, a portrait of a shirtless Putin in the background, Trump opens the door to reveal Putin, still bare-chested. The couple ride together in a car; when they begin to hold hands, the car transforms into a unicorn. Eventually the two leaders kiss, their tongues wrapping around each other:
Below are the first dozen responses; among them, the only partial defense of the Times is one person pointing out that the video was published by NYT Opinion, which didn’t change the tenor of the almost universal condemnation:
The vast majority of the reaction continues to be extremely negative.
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