Trump faces backlash after posting video of man killed by tiger in UK

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, 14 October, posted a video on his Truth Social platform showing a man being fatally mauled by a tiger in Britain. The post has drawn sharp criticism online, with some users calling it disrespectful to the man who died and to his family.

The footage shows an attack at a wildlife park on Saturday. Trump captioned it "Don't ever mess with nature!" The roughly 41-second clip was also shared by the White House's "Rapid Response 47" account on X.

Further posts

Trump later posted another clip that appears to be AI-generated, showing people being attacked by big cats, set to synthesiser music. On Tuesday he also shared an AI-generated video of himself wrestling with and befriending a smiling tiger, accompanied by the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

Reaction from users

Several users commenting on the White House post on X described the video as "disgusting" and "sick." One wrote that a family is grieving while their relative's final moments are shown to the whole world. Another, who said they had voted for Trump, wrote that they had not voted for this and suggested an intern should run his social media campaign.

Earlier controversies

Trump has previously faced criticism over controversial posts, including AI-generated videos mocking marginalised groups and an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ, which he deleted after religious groups objected.

The president and his administration frequently use AI-generated memes. Kurt Sengul, a researcher at Australia's Macquarie University, has described this approach as "memetic warfare." Speaking to Euronews last year, he said it creates an environment in which nothing seems to be taken seriously, and that Trump's approach implies anyone offended by such content is "humourless and can't take a joke."