Melania Trump, Obama’s Hand: Fake Photoshop Image And Buttock Buzz [Debunked]

The above photo of President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama welcoming then President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump into the White House for tea prior to the inauguration is getting plenty of attention. First off, the original photo went viral on Facebook, along with descriptions that note how Mr. and Mrs. Obama helped Melania into the White House by each of them placing a hand on Mrs. Trump’s back and showing her the way inside as Mr. Trump went ahead of Melania. As a result of criticisms levied against President Trump for not waiting for Mrs. Trump to exit the car and help Melania up the stairs himself, a fake image of Mr. Obama touching Melania’s buttock was created. As reported by Snopes, the image of Obama’s hand on Melania is not real.

The real image from Inauguration Day on January 20, in Washington, D.C., can be seen above. That image is credited to Kevin Dietsch of UPI and other organizations. However, someone took that image from the day that President Trump became the 45th President of the U.S., and turned into something a lot more salacious and sinister. Instead of Mr. Obama’s hand landing on Melania’s back, as in the original photo, the Photoshop image shows President Obama’s hand landing on the right buttock of Mrs. Trump — quite a fake photo lie. The publication notes that the fake photo of Obama’s hand on Melania was spread around Facebook by a Facebook account called “No Lapdog Media II.”

Did Barack Obama Put His Hand on Melania Trump's Backside? No. https://t.co/LN0PjepKLK

— Stacey Dunn, Overeducated Antifascist Woman (@dunnclan) January 24, 2017

As seen in the archived fake photo, Mr. Obama’s left hand appears to show up in an inappropriate place on Mrs. Trump’s behind. On the Facebook page of No Lapdog Media II, the fake photo was accompanied by a question that asked how President Obama would explain away the fake actions, or “mansplain” the fake action of Obama’s hand on Melania.

“How will Obama mansplain this?”

Video of the actual event, as seen below, proves that Mr. Obama kept his left hand well above Mrs. Obama’s hand on Melania’s back, and didn’t let his left hand slide down Mrs. Trump’s backside. Although Mr. Obama is famously left-handed, the former president is known for using his left hand to write his speeches in longhand, not using his hand to grope First Lady Melania. Just after the one-minute mark in the below video, it is shown the exact placement of Mr. and Mrs. Obama’s hands on Mrs. Trumps back — not Melania’s backside. The fake photo of former President Obama placing his hand on Melania’s buttock was shared nearly 7,000 times on the “No Lapdog Media II” Facebook page.

According to Snopes, a different question was asked about the fake photo of Obama’s hand on Melania in other venues.

“What will feminists say about this?”

However, Photoshop experts were able to quickly spot the photo’s editing, with the telltale position of Mr. Obama’s arm on Melania’s back still showing in the fake photo.

Despite the photo of Mr. Obama’s hand on Mrs. Trump buttock being fake, there are still a plethora of comments about the situation flowing into social media. A sampling of those comments about the edited photo of Mr. Obama’s left hand on Melania can be seen below.

Stuart Hamilton: “Bahaaass. That’s funny right there. He wanted to know what an actual woman’s a** feels like.”

Kirra Bailey: “Strange grey shadow on Don’s back….”

Elizabeth Davis: “Well, when your double standards have no standards the press will give you a free ‘pass’ in situations like this…if it were our president on Michelle we all know the headlines…”

Paul Schlaflin: “He knows to make his move quickly, he saw Clinton scoping her out.”

Ted Johnson: “Thank goodness Biden was not there or who knows what he would have done.”

Raymond Niederhelman: “I would have him charged with sexual assault.”

Heather Welch: “Is this for real or photoshop?”

Martin Strickrodt: “Fake news. I’ve seen the raw footage, his hand was above her hand.”

[Featured Image by Kevin Dietsch/UPI /CNP/MediaPunch/IPX]