Donald Trump Responds to ‘Orange Face’ Viral Photo, and Social Media Weighs In

On Saturday, President Donald Trump weighed in on a viral photo of him circulating on Twitter, calling it “fake news.” The picture showed the president with his hair blown back, apparently revealing the clear edge of his spray tan. After nearly 24 hours online, the president tried to refute the photo.

Trump is known for his unconventional behavior online, but many saw Saturday’s tweet about his own appearance as particularly over the line. It concerned a photo originally posted by an account called “White House Photos,” operated by a man named William Moon.

Moon’s picture showed the president walking into the wind, his hair blowing back revealing pale skin around his temples and forehead. The photo enjoyed a brief viral phase, with users commenting on how stark the contrast was between the two shades of skin.

Trump himself finally weighed in on Saturday afternoon. He retweeted a copy of the picture that had been filtered black and white, saying that it was “photoshopped, obviously.”

“But the wind was strong and the hair looks good? Anything to demean!” he added.

Professional journalists weighed in the photo as well, with some speculating that the brightness or color balance may have been altered in the version that Moon posted. Still, the photo is available from the White House press corps on Getty Images, and the color contrast in the original is hardly less striking than it is in Moon’s version.

Many users called out the president for using his official online platform to defend his own appearance, calling it vain and unbecoming. Some even pointed out other issues on which the president did not comment, comparing them to this personal debacle in importance.

“Do you have any idea just how ridiculous you sound,” one person tweeted.

“I don’t care how you look because the true ugliness is on the inside,” added another.

“It was taken by the White House photographer. Has he already been fired? If you think the wind made your hair look good, you really need to get over to Walter Reed stat!” wrote a third.

Trump has been infamous for her bronze tan and unique hair quaff since well before he became president. He has been the subject of cartoons and caricatures for decades, going back to his days on The Apprentice and other forms of pop culture.

In the past, Trump’s tan has been proven to be artificial. Just this past December, a report by Snopes confirmed that the president’s tan was not real. It was attributed to make-up in that case, though bronzer or spray-tan is another common assumption.