A clothing company has put up a billboard in New York City's Times Square that depicts President Donald Trump being hog-tied by a woman clad in its athletic wear.
The 30-foot-high billboard featuring a model binding a Trump look-alike with red, white and blue rope while stomping on his face, was put up Tuesday as part of an advertising campaign by Dhvani, a Portland-based clothing company.
Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, tweaked the media Friday for not writing about the billboard sooner.
A billboard in New York City's Time Square depicts President Donald Trump being hogtied by a woman clad in athletic wear on Friday, October 18, 2019. The The 30-foot-high billboard is part of an advertising campaign by Dhvani, a Portland-based clothing company. CEO of Dhvani Avi Brown told The Associated Press the billboard was intended to be a comment on the Trump administration's changes to the Title X family planning program blocking federal funding for health providers who refer patients for abortions. (AP PhotoTed Shaffrey)
"Since you had time to thoroughly cover a stupid and tasteless meme seen by 8 people with incredible outrage, I figured you should dedicate the same time and outrage to this billboard in Times Square you hypocrites," he said in a tweet.
Trump Jr. was referring to news coverage of a parody video, played during a conference at Trump's Miami golf resort, depicting a caricature of Trump murdering members of the news media and other critics.
CEO of Dhvani Avi Brown told The Associated Press the billboard was intended to be a comment on the Trump administration's changes to the Title X family planning program blocking federal funding for health providers who refer patients for abortions.
"We are on the right side of history," Brown said. "The billboard is an expression of our First Amendment right. Its art is a symbol. We would never condone violence. This is about taking our country back."
Other ads in the campaign show models taping over Trump's mouth.
"He unilaterally has created a gag rule that you cannot refer patients with reproductive information about abortion, sex ed, and contraception," Brown said. "He's gagging doctors and nurses, and telling them what they can and cannot tell patients."
According to Dhvani, the model in the billboard, Michal Mesa, is a Marine Corps veteran and middle school teacher.
Due to the ad's violent nature, there was some back and forth between Dhvani and Lamar Advertising, the agency that operates the billboard.
"The client wanted to use a photo of the President but we said no," said Lamar Advertising's digital marketing coordinator, GraceAnn Woolf. The company insisted on a look-alike instead.
Brown said there's been an increase of traffic to the company's website, along with an increase in sales, since the billboard went up.
TOKYO (AP) — The American envoy to the United Nations called Friday for countries armed with atomic weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament as she visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who became the first U.S. cabinet member to visit Nagasaki, stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy amid a growing nuclear threat in the region.
“We must continue to work together to create an environment for nuclear disarmament. We must continue to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in every corner of the world,” she said after a tour of the atomic bomb museum.
“For those of us who already have those weapons, we must pursue arms control. We can and must work to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place to ever experience the horror of nuclear weapons,” she added, standing in front of colorful hanging origami cranes, a symbol of peace.
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.
Nagasaki Gov. Kengo Oishi said in a statement that he believed Thomas-Greenfield's visit and her first-person experience at the museum “will be a strong message in promoting momentum of nuclear disarmament for the international society at a time the world faces a severe environment surrounding atomic weapons.”
Oishi said he conveyed to the ambassador the increasingly important role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in emphasizing the need of nuclear disarmament.
Thomas-Greenfield's visit to Japan comes on the heels of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to the United States last week and is aimed at deepening Washington's trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul. During her visit to South Korea earlier this week, she held talks with South Korean officials, met with defectors from North Korea and visited the demilitarized zone.
The ambassador said the United States is looking into setting up a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Russia and China have thwarted U.S.-led efforts to step up U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile testing since 2022, underscoring a deepening divide between permanent Security Council members over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
She said it would be “optimal” to launch the new system next month, though it is uncertain if that is possible.
The U.N. Security Council established a committee to monitor sanctions, and the mandate for its panel of experts to investigate violations had been renewed for 14 years until last month, when Russia vetoed another renewal.
In its most recent report, the panel of experts said it is investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its weapons development.
The United States, Japan and South Korea have been deepening security ties amid growing tension in the region from North Korea and China.
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, right, speaks to Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, second right, as they wait for a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, right, walk to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, talk prior to a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, prepare to talk during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
