Donald Trump Photo With Orange Face Tan Stirs up Jokes Online, But Something’s Fishy About It

A new photo of President Donald Trump circulated on social media on Friday, apparently showing the edges of his infamous orange spray tan. It quickly went viral, prompting mocking posts all over Twitter. As the mockery reached a fever pitch, the president himself weighed in on the trend.

President Trump faced into the wind in a photo posted on Twitter this week. It showed his hair blowing backwards, revealing a ring of extremely pale skin that would usually be covered. It stood in stark contrast to the more orange-tone coloring the rest of his face.

There were doubts about whether the photo was real from the beginning, however. It was posted by an account called “White House Photos,” operated by a man named William Moon, who described himself as a White House correspondent and photographer. According to a report by TMZ, Moon’s name is not listed among the official White House press corps.

“Today, [Donald Trump] was dancing with the sunset and strong winds when he walked to the Oval Office from the Marine One on the South Lawn,” Moon wrote in a follow-up tweet.

The photo circulated widely, with many viewers speculating about whether it was real and trying to determine who Moon really was. Writer Timothy Burke later shared another version, which featured the same shot with slightly different lighting. The skin tone contrast was still striking.

Meanwhile, Trump himself eventually weighed in, sharing a black-and-white filtered version of the picture. He tweeted that it was “fake news” and “photoshopped, obviously,” adding: “but the wind was strong and the hair looks good? Anything to demean!”

Of course, this only drew more criticism for the president, as users replied saying that he should not be so vain as to comment on his own appearance from his official Twitter account. Many pointed out other subjects on which the president did not issue an official statement, comparing them to this controversy in scale and importance.

“The fact that you’re so thin skinned that you’re using your platform as potus to respond to a picture demonstrates your fickleness, narcissism, and the fact that you’re an egomaniacal sociopath,” one person tweeted.

“You are actually triggered by a pic and you are the commander in chief, what the f—?” added another.

“Imagine having a president* with such a fragile ego. But here we are,” wrote a third.

Trump returned to politically-oriented tweets later in the afternoon.