Washington, DC — President Donald Trump drew widespread condemnation Tuesday after sharing graphic footage of a 23-year-old British man being fatally mauled by a tiger, then posting an AI-generated video portraying himself wrestling and cuddling the animal.
William Chapman died Saturday after entering the enclosure of a Siberian tiger named Altai at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. His family has said he struggled with significant mental illness and asked the public to stop circulating footage of his death because it was causing additional distress.
South Yorkshire Police also explicitly urged people not to share the video.
Trump nevertheless posted footage of the fatal attack to Truth Social with the message, “Don’t ever mess with nature!” The official White House Rapid Response account amplified the post.
Hours later, Trump posted an AI-generated clip showing himself chasing, overpowering and eventually embracing a tiger while “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” played. He had also shared a separate montage of people being attacked by lions set to upbeat music.
The posts prompted unusually harsh criticism across the political and media spectrum. Piers Morgan called the video “appallingly tasteless” and urged Trump to delete it, while other commentators condemned the decision to turn a young man’s death into online entertainment.
Authorities are still investigating how Chapman entered the enclosure. The tiger will not be euthanized.
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