Did Trump post AI video of himself playing with tiger after deadly UK attack?

Claim:

On Oct. 13, U.S. President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated video on Truth Social depicting himself playing with a tiger.

Rating:

Social media users reported in mid-October that U.S. President Donald Trump had published an artificial intelligence-generated video showing himself interacting playfully with a tiger.

The post emerged shortly after an incident on Oct. 10 at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, England, where a tiger attacked and killed a man. The widely circulated clip displays an AI simulation of Trump pointing at the animal before wrestling and hugging it.

An X user commented on the footage, stating (archived), “Trump actually posted this AI video of him with a tiger in the middle of the night.”

Verification confirms that Trump did upload the AI-created video to his Truth Social profile late in the evening on Oct. 13. This followed his earlier posting of authentic, non-AI footage capturing the actual UK tiger attack. In the artificial clip, the president replicates the hand gestures made by the British man during the real attack, confirming the accuracy of the claims surrounding the post.

The artificial video was shared (archived) late at night.

Earlier that day, he published unedited, real-world footage of the attack involving a man named William Chapman inside an enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park (archived), accompanied by the caption, “Don’t ever mess with nature! President DJT.”

(Truth Social user “realDonaldTrump”)

Additionally, Trump shared a compilation video featuring various big cats attacking people, though the origin and authenticity of those specific clips remain unverified.

Chapman, a former child actor, entered the animal’s enclosure on Oct. 10 and suffered fatal injuries. Following the circulation of the real footage, Chapman’s relatives expressed strong criticism, noting that he had struggled with mental illness. A statement released by the family noted:

The family are utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened. The publication and circulation of deeply offensive media content is causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time. We ask people to stop doing this.

The family are hopeful that the relevant authorities will do their upmost to get to the bottom of why our amazing son did what he did.

For more background, coverage of verified Truth Social posts by the former president is available through archived collections.

Sources