Federal staff on the Division of Housing and City Improvement (HUD) had been greeted this morning by tv units on the company’s Washington, DC headquarters enjoying 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 exhibiting the scene enjoying out on a loop on a TV display screen contained in the Robert C. Weaver Federal Constructing. The supply, who was granted anonymity over fears of repercussions, says that employees on the constructing needed to manually flip off every TV in an effort to cease the video enjoying.
It’s at present unclear who was behind the prank. Comparable AI-generated movies and nonetheless photographs of Trump kissing Musk’s toes have been shared on social media platforms since final 12 months.
“One other waste of taxpayer {dollars} and sources,” Kasey Lovett, a HUD spokesperson tells WIRED. “Applicable motion can 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) mission was planning to eradicate 4,000 employees at the agency, 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 employees in response to 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 vital unpredictable delay in funding,” a present HUD worker tells WIRED.
Over the weekend, staff at HUD, like many different federal employees, 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 most of the businesses, in addition to federal employee union leaders, instructed their members not to answer the emails, whereas HUD management instructed staff to attend till not less than midday on Monday earlier than taking any motion, a HUD supply tells WIRED.