Creator of Donald Trump’s CNN WrestleMania meme has apologised

THE man who claims to have created Donald Trump’s CNN WrestleMania clip says he regrets ever publishing the video.

Charis Chang

3 min read

July 5, 2017 - 2:46PM

Donald Trump tackles CNN in the meme. Picture: Twitter/Donald Trump

THE Reddit user who claims to have created the meme of the Donald Trump’s CNN WrestleMania clip has apologised to the media company and others.

In an astonishing statement posted to the subreddit self.The—Donald, user HanAssholeSolo has called the meme a prank, which had acted as an “extreme wakeup call”, and called on other trolls to think about what they were doing.

CNN later revealed it had managed to track down HanAssholeSolo but he had asked them not to publish his identity for fear of his personal safety and for the public embarrassment it would bring to him and his family.

The news organisation said it would not be publishing his name because he was a private citizen who had issued an apology, showed his remorse and said he was not going to repeat his behaviour.

“CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change,” it said.

While the identity of HanAssholeSolo has not been revealed, reports had emerged in recent days about the user’s numerous racist posts in the past. In his apology, the user denied being racist, bigoted or anti-semitic.

“I am in no way this kind of person, I love and accept people of all walks of life and have done so for my entire life,” he said.

“I was trolling and posting things to get a reaction from the subs on reddit and never meant any of the hateful things I said in those posts.

“I would never support any kind of violence or actions against others simply for what they believe in, their religion, or the lifestyle they choose to have.”

HanAssholeSolo said the attention around his posts had been “extreme wakeup call” to always consider how others think or feel before submitting comments.

“Free speech is a right we all have, but it shouldn’t be used in a manner that it was in the posts that were put on this site.”

The user said the Donald Trump meme was created purely as a satire and was not meant to be a call to violence against CNN or any other news affiliation.

“Trolling to get a reaction out of people is not the best way to make a point.

“To people who troll the internet for fun, consider your words and actions conveyed in your message and who it might upset or anger. Put yourself in their shoes before you post it.”

The user apologised to the subreddit community, the site, the media (especially CNN) and to anyone offended by the posts.

They said it would be the last post from the account and they would not be posting hurtful or hateful things in jest online anymore.

The post, which has been removed twice from the subreddit that is a forum for “serious supporters of President Trump”, struck a very different tone to the user’s reaction to having his video retweeted by the US President.

Redditor HanAssholeSolo, the guy who posted the Trump/CNN clip the president tweeted, has apologized to @CNN, the media, and others pic.twitter.com/GlePoiSlFj
â€” Brandon Wall (@Walldo) July 4, 2017

“I wake up and have my morning coffee and who retweets my s---post but the MAGA EMPEROR himself!!! I am honored,” HanAssholeSolo wrote.

While comments have also been disabled on the apology, some said the user should not have apologised and speculated that HanAssholeSolo may have been “doxed”, which means the user’s identity may have been published.

Several news organisations had been looking at the user’s identity, pointing out racist comments made by HanAssholeSolo, which have since been deleted.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Centre on Extremism, which tracks extremism and hate online and offline, found an 18-month record of comments and memes against Muslims, African-Americans, Jews and others — some which seemed to glorify violence.

They also said the user’s posts pointed to him being a parent and veteran in his 40s living in Tennessee.

Trump caused huge controversy after tweeting a clip on July 2 that showed him pommeling a man in a business suit — his face obscured by the CNN logo — outside the wrestling ring.

It was unprecedented, even for Trump: a sitting president, in effect promoting physical assault of a media stand-in.

Media watchdogs quickly called him out. Unrepentant, Trump argued over the weekend that his outsized Twitter presence was part of a calculated redefinition of the presidency.

“My use of social media is not Presidential - it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL,” he tweeted.

But Trump’s tweets now have US politicians so concerned they are worried about the President’s sanity and are making a plan that could see him removed from the White House.