‘Tasteless’ Trump sparks outrage with AI video parodying Yorkshire zoo tiger attack that shows president wrestling and taming the beast
Donald Trump has posted a ‘tasteless’ AI video parodying the Yorkshire zoo tiger attack, showing the President wrestling and taming the wildcat, on social media.
William Chapman, 24, died on Saturday after climbing into an enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, where he was attacked by a Siberian tiger named Atai.
Footage of the deadly incident has circulated on social media, with Mr Chapman’s family urging people to stop sharing such videos.
Their plea came after Trump posted an AI video of the tiger attempting to attack him, before the digital version of the President chases him away and eventually tames the tiger and befriends him, as The Lion Sleeps Tonight plays in the background.
The clip was posted by the US President on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, moments after he shared real footage of the fatal attack, writing: ‘Don’t ever mess with nature! President DJT!’
Broadcaster Piers Morgan condemned Trump’s post, writing on X: ‘This is appallingly tasteless. Delete it.’
Mr Chapman had posted a series of pictures and footage on social media in the days leading up to his decision to climb into the tiger’s cage on Saturday.
It included a terrifying video of the moment he entered the pen and approached a lone tiger lying on a raised wooden platform. Just minutes later, he was attacked and killed by the animal.
AI footage parodying the Yorkshire zoo tiger attack shows Trump taming and befriending the wildcat
William Chapman, 24, died on Saturday after climbing into a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster
In the background, he can be heard breathing heavily as shocked onlookers cry out ‘Oh my God’.
His Instagram account included a selfie taken at the gym, which he uploaded to social media hours before sharing the video of him slowly approaching the big cat.
Another picture shows him holding a Bible and crossbow while wearing the same clothes he wore when he entered the pen at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Witnesses at the zoo, near Doncaster, told how Mr Chapman, who was described as vulnerable by police, had been dancing to music and had asked a parkgoer to take a picture of him with the tiger in the background.
He then began climbing into the enclosure as a woman desperately tried to hold him back, before dropping 12ft to the floor.
When the tiger attacked, Mr Chapman screamed ‘stop’ several times and appeared to make a gesture for ‘bad’ in Makaton – a sign language system generally used by individuals who struggle to communicate.
The horrifying drama unfolded just minutes before emergency services were called at 1.35pm.
In a statement released through police on Tuesday, Mr Chapman’s loved ones said: ‘William was a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved – and William loved them back.
‘Sadly, William suffered from significant mental illness over a number of years and was consequently prescribed strong medication.
Officers in the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park following the fatal attack on Saturday
‘It will be for the coroner to decide what part this played in his death. We would ask everybody to respect that process.’
‘The family are utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened,’ they said.
‘The publication and circulation of deeply offensive media content is causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time. We ask people to stop doing this.
‘The family are hopeful that the relevant authorities will do their utmost to get to the bottom of why our amazing son did what he did.’
It emerged on Tuesday night that Mr Chapman was a ‘passionate’ child actor who appeared in an ITV comedy drama.
In 2009 he was in the two-part ITV comedy May Contain Nuts alongside Shirley Henderson – who is best known for playing Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films.
Mr Chapman played Alfie Chaplin, the son of Henderson’s character Alice Chaplin, who masqueraded as her 11-year-old daughter to take a school entrance exam in the acclaimed drama which also starred Darren Boyd.
He also appeared in the BBC series True Stories about the lives of historical people in 2012, when he portrayed the English physician and scientist Edward Jenner as a boy before he became the father of immunology and the pioneer of vaccination.
Mr Chapman had a further role in the ITV period drama series Breathless, which aired in 2013 and featured hospital staff secretly performing illegal abortions in the 1960s, according to a blog post written in 2014 by his mother.
But his acting work apparently largely stopped during his adolescence, and he appeared to not have had any screen work for many years before his death.
