An AI-generated video that showed President Donald Trump appearing to kiss the bare feet of billionaire Elon Musk was broadcast at the Washington headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday, to the surprise of some employees.
The fake video, which two HUD employees confirmed to NBC News was displayed on internal monitors in the office, shows Trump appearing to massage and peck at Musk’s feet. A caption over the video says “Long live the real king.”
The caption seems to refer to one of Trump’s Truth Social posts from last week, in which he wrote, in all caps, “Long live the king!”
One of the employees who spoke to NBC News anonymously said that the fake video is being seen by some “as a sign of resistance that has brought a lot of joy.” (NBC News’ sources spoke anonymously “because they were not authorized to speak publicly and they said they feared retaliation.”)
Kasey Lovett, a HUD spokesperson, said in a statement that there will be “appropriate action” taken “for all involved” in the prank. Neither the White House nor Musk responded to NBC News’ request for comment. The fake video appeared this week amid Musk’s ongoing effort to cull the federal workforce, which has wreaked havoc on the government, causing widespread confusion among employees and anger with the public. Although the White House has denied that Musk is the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, the billionaire is widely understood to be the de facto leader of the nongovernmental organization that Trump has let loose on the federal infrastructure. In the past month, DOGE has laid off thousands of employees; canceled scores of federal contracts, nearly 40% of which will reportedly yield no savings; tried to gain access to sensitive federal infrastructure and taxpayer data; and cut public funding for critical science research. Musk’s drastic changes have led to accusations that the billionaire, not Trump, is in charge — though Trump has denied any such claims, pointing to Musk’s birthplace in South Africa as disqualifying him from holding the office of the president.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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