‘No, why would we do that’: White House jokes over Kate Middleton photo controversy
The White House on Tuesday (local time) responded to the controversy over an edited family photo of Princess of Wales Kate Middleton, saying it did not make any digital changes to the photos of the President and Vice President before publicly releasing them.
During a briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked by a reporter whether the White House had digitally altered photographs of the President, Vice President, First Lady or Second Gentleman before they were released into the public domain.
Jean-Pierre said, “Digitally altered? Not that I know of. I wouldn’t say,” as other journalists laughed at the unexpected question.
“Why would we digitally alter photos? Are you comparing us to what’s happening in the UK?” She said and continued laughing softly.
When the reporter responded that he was doing his “due diligence” as a reporter, the White House official laughed and said, “Why does the Emperor have anything to do with us? No, it’s not something we do.” Let’s do it here.”
Kensington Palace released a photo in celebration of Mother’s Day on Sunday, in which Kate Middleton smiles at the camera while her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis stand around her. It said the photo was taken by Prince William, 41, at the family residence in Windsor earlier in the week.
Several major news agencies, including the Associated Press and Reuters, had retracted the image of the 42-year-old Princess of Wales and her children earlier on Monday after claims that the photo appeared to be edited or generated by AI.
Subsequently, Kate Middleton apologized for the “confusion” over the image distributed by Kensington Palace and said she was “experimenting with editing”.
“Like many amateur photographers, I occasionally experiment with editing,” she wrote on Everyone celebrating Mother’s Day will be very happy.”
The photo was the first officially released photo of the Princess of Wales since her stomach surgery in January. Its release followed several weeks of speculation and social media conspiracy theories regarding her health and whereabouts.
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