Kamala Harris didn't call teen a 'racist.' Post is a fabrication | Fact check
The claim: Image shows Kamala Harris post calling teen a ‘racist’
A July 28 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows what appears to be a post on X, formerly Twitter, from Vice President Kamala Harris. It includes an image of Donald Trump Jr. and teenage conservative influencer Bo Loudon, whose shirt bears a slogan that attacks President Joe Biden.
“I am DISGUSTED by @BoLoudon’s SEXIST call to prosecute our first DEI Secret Service Woman Director,” reads the text in the purported post from Harris. “Bo is a 17 year old RACIST – it’s BLACK LIVES MATTER, not ‘Biden Loves Minors!’ DO NOT follow him!”
The Instagram post received more than 2,000 likes in two days.
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Our rating: Altered
The X post is a fabrication, a Harris campaign spokesperson said. There is no record of the post from her verified account.
Purported X post ‘obviously not real’
The 17-year-old Loudon, the son of a conservative commentator and an ex-state senator in Missouri, is a friend of Trump’s youngest son, Barron. In a July 22 X post reacting to a Congressional hearing into Trump's attempted assassination, Loudon applauded Rep. Anna Paulina Luna for calling for perjury charges against Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who has since resigned.
But Harris did not respond with an X post calling Loudon's action “sexist” or labeling him a “racist,” as the Instagram post claims. The post attributed to her is a fabrication, with Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa telling USA TODAY it is "obviously not real."
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There is no record of the screenshotted post appearing on Harris’ verified X account. It is missing several key elements that would appear in a real post, including virality metrics and the timestamp that indicates when it was shared.
More broadly, such a post from Harris would attract considerable attention from her 20 million X followers and legitimate media outlets. But there are no credible news reports about such a post from the vice president.
The image of Loudon wearing the anti-Biden T-shirt next to Trump Jr. was first shared by the teen on Instagram in March 2022.
Fabricated social media posts wrongly attributed to political figures have frequently spawned misinformation. USA TODAY previously debunked false claims that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted about conservatives’ “misogyny and racism,” that Trump posted the rally shooting “took my entire ear off” and that former Rep. Liz Cheney called Trump a “junkyard hog” in a post.
USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
Ammar Moussa, July 29, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Kamala Harris, accessed July 30, X profile
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fabricated image claims Kamala Harris called teen racist | Fact check
