A turkey and a smiling Karoline Leavitt, carrying his son. It’s a simple photo but is now going viral on social media with the claim that the White House press secretary did not like her weird angle photo and reached out to the agency that took the photo. The New Republic reported that the photo has been since removed from Agence France-Presse’s collection and also from Getty’s archive. “The photo, taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Andrew Caballero-Reynolds at a very low angle, is pointed up at Leavitt, who is smiling in a manner that gives her a double chin, while she is holding her son. A turkey they were looking down at, ‘Waddle,’ is also featured in frame very prominently,” The New Republic report said made it clear that the “double chin” in the photo was the problem. But the agency denied that there was a formal request to remove the image, though they said that they were made aware that White House did not like the photo. “While we were made aware that White House staff found the photo unflattering, we want to be clear that there was no formal request to remove it, nor was there any external pressure involved,” AFP’s director of brand and communications Grégoire Lemarchand told The Daily Beast.
Who is taking unflattering photos of White House officials?
The case of Karoline Leavitt is not the first one. Washington Post recently reported that press photographers were barred to take photoes inside the Pentagon press briefing room as several outlets published “unflattering” photos of defense secretary Pete Hegseth. On March 2, Hegseth held a press conference with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to brief the press on the US and Israel military strikes on Iran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in February. After the press conference, wire services pushed Hegseth’s photos but Hegseth’s staff reportedly discussed that they did not like the way Hegseth looked. Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilsonsaid in a statement that in order to use the briefing room “effectively,” only one representative per uncredentialed news outlet was permitted inside. “Photographs from the briefings are immediately released online for the public and press to use. If that hurts the business model for certain news outlets, then they should consider applying for a Pentagon press credential,” Wilson wrote.
