An image shared on Instagram purportedly shows former President Donald Trump standing next to rapper Tupac Shakur.

 

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Verdict: False

The image is doctored. The original photo shows Tupac with an unidentified man.

Fact Check:

Tupac was a rapper in the 1990s who sold over 75 million records and was murdered by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting at a stoplight in Los Vegas in 1996, according to Britannica. An image on Instagram shows what looks like the famed rapper posing for a photograph with Trump.

“One of the most hardcore gangster motherf****rs this country has ever seen and Tupac Shakur,” text in the image reads. (RELATED: Viral Image Claims To Show Steve Irwin And Fred Rogers Posing Together)

Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found a similar photo posted on Pinterest, which shows Tupac with an unidentified man who is not Trump. The picture was taken at the 1996 MTV Music Video Awards (VMAs), fact-checking website Snopes reported.

Tupac’s outfit in the Pinterest and Instagram photos appears to match his attire during the VMAs after-party in Bryant Park in 1996, according to a photo published by Getty Images. Trump attended the VMAs in 1995, inTouch Magazine reported, though it is unclear if Trump attended in 1996 or if he ever met Tupac. In a 1992 interview with MTV, Tupac suggested everyone wanted to be rich like Trump, and that those with exorbitant wealth were greedy.

Trump’s face has been superimposed over another man’s face in the edited image. The photo of Trump’s face appears to come from an image of Trump published by Getty Images in 1996. In that photo, Trump is standing with his then-wife Marla Maples and their daughter Tiffany, according to the Getty Images caption.

This is not the first time Trump has been the subject of a doctored photo. Check Your Fact in 2020 debunked a viral image that purported to show Trump with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.