Did Trump post image of himself as football star surrounded by male cheerleaders? – Snopes.com
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In June 2026, a claim circulated online that U.S. President Donald Trump had posted an image of him as a muscular football player surrounded by shirtless male cheerleaders.
People on social media shared a screenshot of Trump’s alleged post sharing the image, with one person commenting, “I guess it’s right on time for pride month.”
The post gained traction just days after Trump’s physician declared him to be in “excellent health.”
He wanted to look tough. He posted a painting of himself surrounded by oiled-up shirtless men in tiny shorts waving pompoms. Safe to say this did not land quite the way he intended. pic.twitter.com/bRHf9xfJaW
— Gandalv (@Microinteracti1) June 4, 2026
However, the post was fake. Searches of the president’s X and Truth Social accounts and an online archive of Trump’s Truth Social activity revealed no such post.
A Google reverse image search for the alleged screenshot returned only other instances of users sharing the fake post. A TinEye reverse image search of the same screenshot returned no results.
Further, the purported screenshot does not match authentic Truth Social posts. For example, it’s missing a timestamp that would typically appear next to Trump’s handle.
The image used in the fake post appeared to originate from an X account that frequently publishes content intended to troll Trump and his supporters. While it is not labeled as a parody account, a cursory scroll through the feed makes its intentions clear. The image was then recontextualized to appear as though Trump posted it.
The original post featured the image along with text that read, “The medical results are in and President Trump is our healthiest leader in American history. At 6’3″, 238 pounds of muscle, and an ass that could crack Zeus’s walnuts, Straightriotism is on the rise while vegan girlfriends can dance alone.”
The image appeared to be generated using artificial intelligence. Most obviously, the image purported to show Trump as an American football player, but shows him holding and stepping on basketballs while a soccer ball sits nearby.
Further, the cheerleading men surrounding Trump all feature nearly identical facial features and keen-eyed readers will notice that the cheerleader positioned under the basketball Trump is holding has arms that appear to shrink.
Artist and former anatomy instructor Jon Moore told Snopes the image was clearly AI-generated for these reasons. He also noted that the software “appeared to be having trouble with arms above the heads” and pointed out an error on the back-left figure’s right thigh. “AI has trouble with overlapping shapes like that,” he said.
Moore admitted there were some figures in the image that had fairly represented musculature, but said that the area around the bottom of everyone’s ribcage was “just too lumpy.” He added, “There aren’t a bunch of extra muscles there. It’s mostly fasciae and the origins of oblique abdominals.”
He elaborated further with specifics:
The line of bumps that goes from the nipple area diagonally out is correct (serratus anterior) and the external oblique originates in part there as if you’re lacing fingers together, but that’s about it.
Hive Moderation, an AI-detection platform, also determined with 99.9% certainty that the image was AI-generated. It should be noted, however, that such detection platforms are not always reliable.
(Hive Moderation)
For further reading, Snopes investigated claims that Trump posted he was “proud” of his “ICE boys” and that he called journalist Norah O’Donnell “Norah O’Dumble” in a social media post.
Binkley, Collin. “Trump’s Physician Says President Is in “Excellent Health.”” AP News, 30 May 2026, apnews.com/article/trump-health-checkup-fitness-doctors-a883ebfd180c5bc232587f44449f782a. Accessed 4 June 2026.
Joey Esposito has written for a variety of entertainment publications. He’s into music, video games … and birds.
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