Donald Trump has faced fierce criticism after sharing a “tasteless” AI-generated video that mocked the fatal tiger attack at a Yorkshire wildlife park. In the digitally created clip, the US president is shown grappling with the animal before subduing and taming it.
William Chapman, a 24-year-old British man, died on Saturday after entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. He was attacked by Atai, a Siberian tiger.
Video of the fatal incident has since spread online, despite appeals from Mr Chapman’s family for the public to stop circulating footage of the attack.
The family’s request came before Mr Trump posted the AI parody on his Truth Social account on Tuesday. The video depicts the tiger lunging at a digital version of the president, who then drives it away before supposedly taming the animal and becoming its friend, accompanied by the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”.
The parody appeared shortly after Mr Trump had shared genuine footage of the deadly incident, alongside the message: “Don’t ever mess with nature! President DJT!”
Broadcaster Piers Morgan condemned the post on X, describing it as “appallingly tasteless” and telling the president: “Delete it.”
In the days before his death, Mr Chapman had uploaded a series of photographs and videos to social media, including material connected to his decision to enter the tiger’s enclosure on Saturday.
One disturbing video appears to show him climbing into the pen and moving towards a solitary tiger resting on a raised wooden platform. Within minutes, the animal attacked him, killing him.
An AI-generated video depicts Donald Trump taming and befriending the tiger involved in the Yorkshire zoo attack
William Chapman, 24, died after entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster on Saturday
Heavy breathing can be heard in the background of the recording as stunned visitors react, with some shouting: “Oh my God.”
His Instagram account also featured a gym selfie posted just hours before he shared the video showing himself gradually walking towards the big cat.
A separate image showed Mr Chapman holding a Bible and a crossbow while wearing the same clothing seen in the footage from Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Witnesses said Mr Chapman, whom police described as vulnerable, had been dancing to music at the park and asked another visitor to photograph him with the tiger visible behind him.
He subsequently started to climb into the enclosure. One woman reportedly tried urgently to restrain him, but he fell roughly 12 feet to the ground.
As the tiger attacked, Mr Chapman was heard repeatedly shouting “stop”. He also appeared to make the Makaton sign for “bad”, using a communication system commonly used by people who have difficulty speaking or communicating.
The terrifying incident took place only minutes before emergency services were contacted at 1.35pm.
In a statement issued through police on Tuesday, Mr Chapman’s family said: “William was a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved – and William loved them back.
“Sadly, William had experienced significant mental illness for several years and had consequently been prescribed strong medication.
The scene at Yorkshire Wildlife Park following the fatal incident on Saturday
‘It will be for the coroner to decide what part this played in his death. We would ask everybody to respect that process.’
‘The family are utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened,’ they said.
‘The publication and circulation of deeply offensive media content is causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time. We ask people to stop doing this.
‘The family are hopeful that the relevant authorities will do their utmost to get to the bottom of why our amazing son did what he did.’
It emerged on Tuesday night that Mr Chapman was a ‘passionate’ child actor who appeared in an ITV comedy drama.
In 2009 he was in the two-part ITV comedy May Contain Nuts alongside Shirley Henderson – who is best known for playing Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films.
Mr Chapman played Alfie Chaplin, the son of Henderson’s character Alice Chaplin, who masqueraded as her 11-year-old daughter to take a school entrance exam in the acclaimed drama which also starred Darren Boyd.
He also appeared in the BBC series True Stories about the lives of historical people in 2012, when he portrayed the English physician and scientist Edward Jenner as a boy before he became the father of immunology and the pioneer of vaccination.
Mr Chapman had a further role in the ITV period drama series Breathless, which aired in 2013 and featured hospital staff secretly performing illegal abortions in the 1960s, according to a blog post written in 2014 by his mother.
But his acting work apparently largely stopped during his adolescence, and he appeared to not have had any screen work for many years before his death.