Trump declares 'No Collusion' with 'Game of Thrones'-inspired tweet — but HBO isn't having it
Donald Trump is pretending he's King of Westeros again — or maybe he just likes the font. The President of the United States responded to the Mueller Report press conference today with a new pinned tweet mimicking a Game of Thrones ad, including an imitation of the HBO show's signature font. In the image, Trump appears against a foggy background with his back to the camera. The picture is superimposed with the text, "NO COLLUSION. NO OBSTRUCTION. FOR THE HATERS AND THE RADICAL LEFT DEMOCRATS — GAME OVER."
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2019
And HBO, though they're being polite about it, sounds pretty exasperated. "Though we can understand the enthusiasm for Game of Thrones now that the final season has arrived, we still prefer our intellectual property not be used for political purposes," the cable and streaming network wrote in a statement responding to the president's meme.
This is the third time that Trump's office has created a Game of Thrones meme to send a political message. In November, the POTUS promoted his sanctions against Iran with an image of himself superimposed with the Game of Thrones font, the show slogan "WINTER IS COMING" replaced with the words "SANCTIONS ARE COMING." After posting the image on Twitter, Trump printed out a movie-style poster and put it on his desk during a January Cabinet meeting, where it apparently went unremarked upon.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2018
In response, HBO issued a statement saying, "We were not aware of this messaging and would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated for political purposes." They also posted a cheekier response on Twitter.
How do you say trademark misuse in Dothraki?
— HBO (@HBO) November 2, 2018
During the government shutdown in January, Trump posted another variation on the Game of Thrones poster, promoting his border wall with an image captioned, "THE WALL IS COMING."
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2019
HBO has taken no legal action against Trump, and his tweets probably fall under the category of fair use (since he didn't actually take any copyrighted imagery from the show, and the memes arguably qualify as parodies). However, Game of Thrones fans — not to mention all those "haters and radical left Democrats" — have taken Trump's cue and come up with some memes of their own.
Fixed it for you. pic.twitter.com/PqH4b0D9c6
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) April 18, 2019
Fixed it for you, @realDonaldTrump : pic.twitter.com/3lALrYYlrE
— Ed Salmon (@fogmount) April 18, 2019
I'm not sure we read the same report. Then again, I'm not sure you read much of anything... #Trump #TrumpObstructed #MuellerReport pic.twitter.com/LasRz17gss
— Travis Stanton (@StantonTravis) April 18, 2019
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
Elmo crashes ‘Game of Thrones’ in adorable ‘Sesame Street’ mashup
'Game of Thrones' star drops major clues about the final season
Sophie Turner reveals how her struggle with depression affected her 'Game of Thrones' performance
Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle’s newsletter.