Federal workers on the Division of Housing and City Improvement (HUD) have been greeted this morning by tv units on the company’s Washington, DC headquarters taking part in what seems to be an AI-generated video of President Donald Trump kissing the toes of Elon Musk, accompanied by the phrases: “LONG LIVE THE REAL KING.”
An individual at HUD headquarters on Monday morning shared a video with WIRED displaying the scene taking part in out on a loop on a TV display contained in the Robert C. Weaver Federal Constructing. The supply, who was granted anonymity over fears of repercussions, says that staff on the constructing needed to manually flip off every TV in an effort to cease the video taking part in.
It’s at present unclear who was behind the prank. Related AI-generated movies and nonetheless photographs of Trump kissing Musk’s toes have been shared on social media platforms since final yr.
“One other waste of taxpayer {dollars} and assets,” Kasey Lovett, a HUD spokesperson tells WIRED. “Applicable motion shall be taken for all concerned.”
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The incident got here simply days after leaked paperwork confirmed that Elon Musk’s so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) undertaking was planning to eradicate 4,000 workers on the company, which is within the midst of coping with a US housing disaster.
NPR reported this weekend that HUD’s Workplace of Group Planning and Improvement is slated to lose 84 p.c of its workers based on leaked paperwork.
“We’ve determined internally to begin notifying our grantees—each mayor, county head, governor, nonprofit CEO, and congressional earmark recipient—that they need to anticipate a loss or important unpredictable delay in funding,” a present HUD worker tells WIRED.
Over the weekend, workers at HUD, like many different federal staff, acquired an e-mail from the Workplace of Personnel Administration demanding a reply with “approx. 5 bullets of what you achieved final week.”
Management at lots of the businesses, in addition to federal employee union leaders, instructed their members not to answer the emails, whereas HUD management instructed workers to attend till a minimum of midday on Monday earlier than taking any motion, a HUD supply tells WIRED.