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The parents of two children featured in an allegedly doctored video shared on Twitter by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign are suing both in a New York court.
Michael Cisneros and Alex Hanson, parents of one of the little boys, and Erica and Daniel McKenna, parents of the other, say their children were victimized by the manipulated video, which the president and his campaign used as a political instrument.
The original clip apparently showed the toddlers — one Black, one white — running down a sidewalk toward each other and hugging when they met. The allegedly altered version shows one running away from the other with graphics added to indicate one of the children is racist.
The four parents filed a civil lawsuit against Trump and the Trump campaign in New York state Supreme Court on Thursday. Logan Cook of Kansas, a meme creator and the man purportedly responsible for creating the manipulated video, is also named as a defendant in the case.
Cook’s Instagram account, under the name “carpedonktum,” refers to him as a “Sarcastic Memesmith specializing in the creation of memes to support President Donald J. Trump,” according to the lawsuit.
Trump, his campaign and Cook are accused of violating the children’s civil rights, of committing intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and of general negligence.
The original video was shot by the little boys’ fathers on a cellphone in New York in September 2019. They shared the video on social media, and it soon went viral for capturing a moment illustrating “the epitome of love and unity … warmth and companionship,” the lawsuit says.
Cook used the footage, and manipulated it, to create an entirely different video that seemed to show the Black child running away from his friend, the lawsuit alleges. Graphics designed to mimic those used by CNN were placed over the video labeling it as “Breaking News,” “Terrified Todler [sic] Runs From Racist Baby” and “Racist Baby Probably A Trump Voter.”
Trump tweeted the falsified video to his personal Twitter account June 18 and his official campaign followed suit, posting it to the campaign’s Twitter account a short time later, Business Insider reported.
Cook created the fictitious meme “with reckless disregard of the true nature of the original video … for the purposes of commercial exploitation for his economic benefit and/or that of co-defendants Donald Trump and [the Trump] campaign,” the lawsuit claims.
And he did so without the consent of the children or their parents.
Trump and his campaign tweeted the video “to exploit the children’s images for his own purposes and gain,” the civil complaint goes on to allege, “pushing his brand of sensationalism in complete disregard for the truth.”
When the parents became aware of and saw what Cook created and Trump promoted, they were distraught, according to the lawsuit, “not only because this video was done without appropriate written consent, but that it also promoted racist and inciteful words and likenesses to these young boys and thus to their families.”
Cisneros filed a formal complaint with Twitter.
The meme was viewed 20 million times before it was labeled “manipulated media” and taken down by Twitter a day after Trump and his campaign tweeted it, the lawsuit says.
The doctored video can still be seen online along with the original on YouTube.
Cook was permanently banned from Twitter on June 23 for repeated infractions and copyright violations, although he continues to post to his Instagram account.
Newsweek reported that the day after Trump and his campaign tweeted the faked video, “White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the president during a press briefing, saying that he was attempting to make a satirical point.”
A few days later, Newsweek published an opinion piece by Cisneros that said he was appalled by the president’s decision to circulate “a message of hate in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests.”
“We feel that standing up to these bullies and holding them accountable for breaking the law is very important — for our sons and for us, since no one is above the law,” it said.
The case against Trump, the Trump campaign and Cook is a limited-plaintiff lawsuit, not a class action lawsuit.
Has your image or video of you ever been used without your permission in a political campaign? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
Cisneros and Hanson are represented by Christopher Fitzgerald. The McKennas are represented by Michael Maggiano of Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi PC.
The Trump Campaign Racist Baby Video Lawsuit is Michael Cisneros, et al. v. Logan Cook, et al., Index No. 157550-2020, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
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