White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre assured reporters on Tuesday that the Biden administration does not digitally alter photographs of the president or vice president, following the recent controversy surrounding Princess Kate’s edited social media photo.
At a press conference Tuesday, Jean-Pierre appeared visibly surprised when asked by CBS News’s Ed O’Keefe, “Does the White House ever digitally alter photos of the president, vice president, first lady or second gentleman before they’re released?”
“Digitally altered?” Jean-Pierre replied as other reporters in the room laughed at the unexpected question. “Not that I know of. I would say, no.”
“Why would we digitally alter photos?” she continued, before asking whether he was drawing a comparison to the recent controversy in the United Kingdom.
When O’Keefe said he was just doing “due diligence” as a reporter, soft laughs continued to fill the room, and Jean-Pierre seemed amused by the question.
“Why does the monarch have to do anything with us? No, that is not something that we do here,” Jean-Pierre said.
The lighthearted exchange comes after news that Kate, the princess of Wales, had digitally altered a photograph she posted with her kids on social media on Sunday in honor of Mother’s Day in the U.K. The photo was the first time the public had seen the princess since her abdominal surgery in January, and several news photo agencies had made the photo available for use.
Hours later, however, news agencies issued “kill notices,” demanding the photo be deleted from all platforms, after discovering it had been “manipulated.” Princess Kate subsequently issued an apology and admitted to editing the photo.