The parents of the toddlers featured in a satirical meme video about CNN will sue the meme’s creator, Carpe Donktum, as well as President Donald Trump for sharing the video to social media.
President Donald Trump, his campaign, and influential meme maker “Carpe Donktum” are facing a lawsuit over the viral “racist baby” parody video which portrays CNN issuing a fake news report about two toddlers, according to a report by Forbes.
Lawyers representing the parents of the two toddlers featured in the video are drafting a lawsuit claiming that the video was doctored and shared as an “advertisement and political propaganda” without the parents’ permission.
The original video of the toddlers — which was posted to social media last year where it went viral — has been viewed millions of times.
Carpe Donktum took the original footage of the toddlers and incorporated it into a parody video poking fun at CNN. The video included a fake CNN chyron, which read, “Terrified toddler runs away from racist baby.”
The video, widely understood as a humorous parody video — was later shared by President Trump.
The meme was then taken down by Facebook and Twitter after the parents filed a copyright complaint. Before the video was banned from social media, Twitter had also labeled the parody video “manipulated media.”
Then, on Tuesday, Twitter permanently banned Carpe Donktum from the social media platform.
“The fact that Twitter and Facebook disabled this fake video within 24 hours of President Trump and his campaign tweeting it, coupled with Twitter permanently banning [Carpe Donktum], is very strong evidence that a jury will likely find that all of these people broke the law by using this video as advertisement and political propaganda,” claimed Ven Johnson, one of the attorneys representing the parents, according to Forbes.
After the popular meme maker’s permanent suspension, prominent conservative figures, GOP lawmakers, and others have joined the social media platform Parler, which also announced this week that it is partnering with conservative pundit and frequent Fox News guest Dan Bongino.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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