There is a bit of a CNN shitstorm occurring on the internet today. Apparently some guy made a simple gif, showing Trump bodyslammign CNN, which the president tweeted on his personal twitter account, and the official @POTUS account:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 7168071680CNN is extremely butthurt over this, trying to claim that this is the president enticing violence against them. They found out who created the gif (which wasn't hard since the dude posted on the_donald subbredit about how excited he was that President Trump tweeted something he created.
Earlier today he posted an apology saying he regrets making the gif and he wished he considered the consequences of releasing that gif. Anyone who spends any time on the internet would immediately mark this apology as bullshit. CNN then publishes
this article, which further sheds light on what really was going on. The most important part of the article is this section:
CNN is not publishing "HanA**holeSolo's" name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.
CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.
It is likely CNN talked to the dude, saying that they would release his real name, which will destroy his life because of racist posts that were found on his reddit account. The guy really didn't want this to happen so he obliged and wrote up an apology. This apology was removed from the_donald, bt the way, so the only proof of it ever existing is through that CNN article.
At any rate, this reeks of
criminal coercion and should be taken to court. Problem is that the reddit user has to reveal his identity if this is taken to court, which is typically the problem with cases involving coercion. I am not a lawyer so I don't know if there is any way that this guy can remain anonymous in court, but since this is something that involves the actions of a president who is also a very wealthy businessman, it is not a simple case of a big news company going after a little guy. This guy potentially has the backing of the president and his legal team. Can be yuge.
If I was the guy I would try to milk this shit for all it is worth. He could get a real nice settlement out of this, a settlement that would help mitigate any damage that may be done to his character if he chooses to come forward with it.