A turkey and a smiling Carolyn Levitt holding his son. It was a simple photo, but now it’s going viral on social media, with the White House press secretary allegedly not liking the odd angle photo of her and contacting the agency that took the photo. The photo has been removed from the AFP collection and Getty archives, The New Republic reported. “This photo was taken at a very low angle by AFP photographer Andrew Caballero Reynolds. In the photo, Levitt is facing Levitt. Levitt is holding his son and smiling, showing his double chin. The turkey they are looking down at is “wobbly” and also appears very conspicuously in the picture.” The “New Republic” report clearly pointed out that the “double chin” in the photo is the problem. But the agency denied there was a formal request to remove the photo, though they said they were aware the White House didn’t like the photo. Grégoire Lemarchand, AFP’s director of brand and communications, told The Daily Beast: “While we understand that White House staff found this photo to be unflattering, we want to clarify that there was no formal request to remove it, nor was there any external pressure.”
Who’s Taking Dirty Photos of White House Officials?
Caroline Levitt’s case is not the first. The Washington Post recently reported that news photographers were banned from taking photos in the Pentagon press briefing room after multiple outlets published “unflattering” photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. On March 2, Hegseth held a press conference with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to brief the media on the military strike launched by the United States and Israel against Iran in February, which resulted in the death of Khamenei. After the press conference, news agencies pushed a photo of Hegseth, but Hegseth’s staff reportedly discussed that they didn’t like the way Hegseth looked. Pentagon spokesman Kingsley Wilson said in a statement that in order to “effectively” use the press briefing room, only one representative from each unauthorized news outlet will be allowed in. “Photos from the briefing were immediately posted online for public and media use. If this harms the business model of certain news outlets, then they should consider applying for press credentials from the Pentagon,” Wilson wrote.