DORAL, Fla. – According to a New York Times report, a spoof video at a pro-President Donald Trump rally showed Trump shooting political and media enemies.
The video in question depicts Trump's likeness superimposed over Colin Firth's face from a violent church fight scene from a 2014 movie called "Kingsman: The Secret Service."
Logos of major media news outlets, including ABC, Vice News and PBS, appear, as does the logo for Trump's 2020 reelection campaign.
According to the New York Times report, the video aired during a three-day event at the Trump National Doral Miami resort last week. The event was organized by American Priority. Among the guests scheduled to speak were Donald Trump Jr. and the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.
"I was absolutely horrified," said Nelson Diaz, asked to comment as chairman of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County. "It's harmful not just as a party but our goals as a society to get to a place where we don't have political violence like this."
A spokesperson for Trump Jr. told the New York Times that he was unaware of the video until it surfaced in media reports and that Trump Jr. "strongly condemns the type of disgusting and graphic violence purported to be depicted in the video against members of the media."
According to journalist CJ Ciaramella, one of relatively few reporters credentialed to cover the conference, the video was aired as part of a meme exhibition in a room off the main ballroom of the event. It's unclear how many people viewed it.
The meme creator taking credit for it addressed the controversy on its website, calling it "satire", and writing that he does not condone any violence.
Event organizers indicated the video was submitted by a third party — and said they were looking into how the video was shown at the conference, while also condemning it.
Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, indicated via her Twitter that the president had not seen the video, "but based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns the video."
Conference organizers posted this message on its website:
It has come to our attention that an unauthorized video was shown in a side room at #AMPFest19. This video was not approved, seen, or sanctioned by the #AMPFest19 organizers. The organizers of #AMPFest19 were not even aware of the video until they were contacted by the NYT. The first time anyone officially associated with #AMPFest19 was made aware of the video was when the NYT requested comment. We find it shocking that the New York Times would not report on any of the sanctioned events in the article. Including our panel conversation LITERALLY condemning political violence while claiming to be upset over a meme that was not sanctioned, shown on stage, or approved. #AMPFest19 always has and always will condemn political violence. And proof of this was our major panel discussion on this very topic at #AMPFest19.