Sarah Mervosh and Niraj Chokshi

You laugh in bewilderment, field questions from reporters, reckon with hateful messages and misinformation and, ultimately, embrace the spotlight in a whirlwind 24 hours that involves a call to your local police, just to be safe.

At least that’s how Charles Leazott handled it. He woke up Thursday morning to find that a spoof presidential seal he created last year on “a lark” to vent his frustration with President Donald Trump had ended up onstage next to the president himself.

The seal, which made allusions to Russia and golf, was included onscreen at a conservative event Tuesday hosted by Turning Point USA. The mix-up was apparently the result of a rushed Google search.

It set off a national media rumpus. Somebody was fired. And Leazott was caught in a burst of viral fame.

He said he came across his creation in a news article while he was scanning Reddit and drinking coffee, as one does.

In his spoof presidential seal, which he sold on merchandise online, Leazott, a graphic designer and video producer in Virginia, made a number of substitutions, some subtle and some not.

The traditional bald eagle was replaced with a double-headed one, inspired by the Russian coat of arms, and the arrows and olive branch in its talons were swapped for golf clubs and a wad of cash.

The motto “E Pluribus Unum,” Latin for “Out of Many, One,” was replaced with “45 Es un Títere,” Spanish for “45 Is a Puppet.”

And the shield across the eagle’s chest was changed to include several instances of the hammer and sickle, a Communist symbol associated with the Russian Revolution.

“This is the most petty piece of art I think I’ve ever designed,” he told The New York Times on Thursday. “This was every petty, little thing I could think of to needle him because he was driving me bananas with his politics.”

Leazott at first had asked that his last name not be used because he was receiving hateful messages, but it was hard to stay anonymous for long. “That decision was pretty much made for me,” he said.

He was quickly outed by online sleuths who found his name and photos. “Some news organizations were contacting me saying we know your name, we are going to run it,” he said.

So he leaned in, giving interviews to other news outlets and even posting an “Ask Me Anything” thread on Reddit.

“I am the guy who created the altered presidential seal projected behind Trump,” he wrote. “It’s been a weird day. AMA!”

As his story took off, he struggled to keep up with misinformation.

Several news outlets incorrectly reported his age. (He is 47.) He was described in headlines as a former Republican, a term he said is not entirely accurate. Records show he has voted regularly in Democratic primaries and general elections since at least 2008. He said he has voted for both Republicans and Democrats, including Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. And, yes, Hillary Clinton got his vote in 2016.

“Like many people I was caught up in a post-9/11 America haze and wasn’t thinking as critically as I maybe should have,” he said on Reddit, explaining his decision to vote for Bush. “I was also in my late 20s. I’m 47 now. Older, wiser and almost overwhelmingly more informed.”

And while he said he now most closely aligns with Democrats, he pushed back against efforts to categorize him in black-and-white political terms.

“There seems to be no room for nuance anymore,” Leazott said Friday. “Everything is binary. One of the first questions many reporters asked me both yesterday and today — almost the first question they ask is, ‘Are you a Democrat or Republican?’”

The reaction has been largely positive, he said. Critics of Trump have hailed him as a hero. He said he has been inundated with requests — “more than I can count” — for merchandise on his online store, where he sells shirts, posters, mugs and other items emblazoned with the seal, as well as other anti-Trump messages.

But he has also received a number of hate messages on Facebook and Reddit, he said, so he warned his local police department on Thursday as a precaution.

In an email Friday, Leazott seemed overwhelmed: “My quote of the day,” he said, “is ‘AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.’”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/business/media/fake-presidential-seal-trump.html" id="0edd50d1-e311-3540-ad51-baf93a178b5b">The New York Times</a>.

What happens when you are yanked into a national news story whose main characters include a set of golf clubs, a double-headed Russian eagle and the president of the United States?

He Made a Fake Presidential Seal. Then Came the Media Rumpus.

The venue: a Washington hotel where Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization, was hosting a conference for high school students, where Trump spoke Tuesday.

The décor: a presidential seal on the onstage screen, a fitting background for a speech by the president of the United States.

The problem: The presidential seal was not, in fact, the presidential seal at all, as The Washington Post reported. Instead of the customary bald eagle, the altered image showed a double-headed eagle, similar to that featured in Russia’s national emblem. Instead of arrows, the eagle clutches a set of golf clubs in a talon. It appeared as the president emerged onstage.

The fake seal’s appearance at the event seemed to catch everyone off guard. A White House spokesman told The New York Times that officials did not review the image before it appeared. Turning Point USA initially said it had no idea how it ended up there. Was it a prank or a political statement? Or was it a simple mistake by the audiovisual team, who perhaps pulled the wrong image off the internet? By Thursday, that seemed to be the explanation.

In the hours after the image was circulated online, an aide at the organization was fired, a person with knowledge of the matter confirmed Thursday.

The seal appeared to be the same as one used to sell anti-Trump merchandise in an online store, The Post reported, based on a reader tip.

In an interview with The Times, the store’s proprietor, Charles, said he had created the image, based on the Russian double-headed eagle, a little over a year ago out of frustration with Trump and his policies. He asked that his last name not be used because he is receiving hateful messages online.

“This is the most petty piece of art I think I’ve ever designed,” said Charles, who is based in Virginia and works in video production and graphic design. “This was every petty, little thing I could think of to needle him because he was driving me bananas with his politics.”

After he created the altered seal, Charles shared it with friends, who encouraged him to sell it online, so he created a website and store and quickly moved on with his life. Then, Thursday morning, he said he was surprised to come across his creation in a news article while he was drinking coffee and scanning Reddit.

“It kind of made my day,” he said.

The doctored image quickly became a talking point among liberals and conservatives alike. Online, some delighted in the dig and called it “brilliant trolling.” Others denounced the switch as an offense worthy of dismissal.

The alterations were subtle enough.

The traditional presidential seal contains the image of an eagle, which holds arrows representing war in one talon and olive branches representing peace in the other. A banner above its head bears the motto “E Pluribus Unum,” Latin for “Out of Many, One.”

The eagle in the altered image had two heads, a symbol featured on the national emblem of Russia, the flags of several other countries and the logos for two Trump golf resorts in Scotland. The symbol is often associated with power and empire.

In that seal, the eagle clutches golf clubs and what appears to be a wad of money in its talons. The banner above its head reads “45 Es un Títere,” Spanish for “45 Is a Puppet.” And a shield across the eagle’s chest features five instances of the hammer and sickle, a communist symbol associated with the Russian Revolution.

The event was an unlikely setting for criticism, and it is unclear if the president was aware of the fake seal. He spoke for nearly 80 minutes in front of a supportive audience. The real presidential seal appeared on the lectern and on another part of the screen.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/us/politics/presidential-seal-trump.html" id="a94f164d-e80e-342b-a54f-ffe4d8e24dd4">The New York Times</a>.

How Trump Ended Up Onstage With a Fake Presidential Seal

A mystery was afoot in conservative Washington circles this week after an apparent mix-up made for an unexpected jab at President Donald Trump. Let us set the scene.

The problem: The presidential seal was not, in fact, the presidential seal at all, as The Washington Post reported. Instead of the customary bald eagle, the altered image showed a double-headed eagle, similar to that featured in Russia’s national emblem. Instead of arrows, the eagle clutches a set of golf clubs in a talon. It appeared on screen as the president emerged onstage.

The fake seal’s appearance at the event seemed to catch everyone off guard. A White House spokesman told The New York Times that officials did not review the image before it appeared onscreen. Turning Point USA initially said it had no idea how it ended up there. Was it a prank or a political statement? Or was it a simple mistake by the audiovisual team, who perhaps pulled the wrong image off the internet? By Thursday, that seemed to be the explanation.

In an interview with The Times, the store’s proprietor, Charles, said he had created the image a little over a year ago out of frustration with Trump and his policies. He asked that his last name not be used because he is receiving hateful messages online.

A mystery was afoot in conservative Washington circles this week after an apparent audiovisual mix-up made for an unexpected jab at President Donald Trump. Let us set the scene.

The décor: the presidential seal appeared on the screen onstage, a fitting background for a speech by the president of the United States.

The fake seal’s appearance at the event seemed to catch everyone off guard. Turning Point USA initially said it had no idea how the image ended up onstage. Was it a simple mistake by the audiovisual team, who perhaps pulled the wrong image off the internet? Or was it an intentional prank, perhaps by someone who hoped to make a statement?

“It was a last-minute AV mistake — and I can’t figure out where the breakdown was,” a spokesman for Turning Point USA told The Washington Post on Wednesday. “I can’t figure out who did it yet.”

A White House spokesman told The New York Times that officials did not review the image before it appeared on screen and referred additional questions to Turning Point USA, which did not respond to several interview requests Thursday.

The doctored seal appeared to be the same as one used to sell anti-Trump merchandise in an online store, The Washington Post reported, based on a reader tip. (Requests for comment sent to the store’s social media accounts were not immediately answered.)

Trump Got Onstage With a Fake Presidential Seal. Here's What We Know.

A mystery was afoot in the leagues of conservative Washington this week after an audiovisual snafu made for an unexpected jab at President Donald Trump. Let us set the scene.

During Sunday night’s episode, a disposable coffee cup could briefly be seen sitting on a table at Winterfell. The modern-day item was jarringly out of place amid candlelit chandeliers and goblets of Dornish wine.

The cup, which appeared in front of Daenerys Targaryen for only a few seconds, may have gone unnoticed by the show’s vast production team — but not by its millions of fans. Like most things in the final season of “Game of Thrones,” the item was quickly spotted, and its cameo was dissected, overanalyzed and made into memes.

“Maybe they assumed that the lighting would be as dark as last week’s installment and that nobody would notice,” one fan joked on Twitter, a callback to complaints about a lack of lighting in the previous week’s episode.

Naturally, we had many questions: On a show so detail-oriented that the actor who plays Bran Stark has to sit in one place during film breaks so his furs don’t move out of place from scene to scene, how did an item so clearly from the 21st century manage to sneak into the final version of the episode? Was it, in fact, a Starbucks cup, as so many online suggested? When did a Starbucks come to Winterfell, and what is the Dragon Queen’s regular order?

Starbucks seemed to have an idea, taking the opportunity to plug its Dragon Drink, a pink concoction with sweet mango and dragon fruit flavors.

After remaining silent for much of the day, HBO acknowledged many inquiries about “the craft services coffee cup” and apparently decided to join the fun with this official statement: “The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.”

And Bernadette Caulfield, the show’s executive producer, apologized during an interview with “Behind the Thrones” on WNYC. “Westeros was the first place to have Starbucks, it’s a little-known fact,” she said. “If that’s the worst thing that they’re finding, we’re in good shape.”

Some were taking the matter more seriously. An art director for “Game of Thrones,” Hauke Richter, told Variety that the mistake had been “blown out of proportion.”

“Things can get forgotten on set,” he wrote.

And some online fans seemed to agree: “If your post has been removed today there is a 95 percent chance it’s because you posted a screenshot of a Starbucks cup,” the r/freefolk moderators warned on Reddit. “Stop it,” the post said. “There’s memes about it. We know already.”

The incongruity came in the final season of “Game of Thrones,” which has involved an all-out effort from HBO. The network, which declined to discuss its budget for the show, is believed to have spent enormous amounts on the final six episodes, with each episode costing $15 million, according to a report by Variety.

But such inconsistencies are a common danger for television shows and movies set in a real or fictional past, and even the most meticulous directors have been unable to stop them from appearing.

In “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” which is set in a world without modern technology, a car can be seen in the background as the main characters Sam and Frodo converse in a field. In a 2003 interview, though, the movie’s director, Peter Jackson, said the car had been erased for the DVD. A car is also visible in a scene of “Braveheart,” the 1995 movie set in 13th-century Scotland.

“Downton Abbey,” the popular British drama set in the early 20th century, once released a promotional photo with a plastic water bottle in the background, a blunder that was given the moniker “water bottle-gate.” The show had some fun in response: “#wH2oops,” the show posted online, along with a photo of the cast holding water bottles and a link directing fans to an organization that promotes clean water.

This article originally appeared in <a id="19229758-a28f-3edd-aa40-6976f4a4a6dc" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/arts/television/game-of-thrones-scene-coffee-cup.html">The New York Times</a>.

A Starbucks in Winterfell? 'Game of Thrones' coffee cup blunder spreads like wildfire

“Game of Thrones” is one of the most expensive and elaborately produced television shows ever. And yet.

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Sarah Mervosh and Niraj Chokshi

Articles written by the author

He Made a Fake Presidential Seal. Then Came the Media Rumpus.

How Trump Ended Up Onstage With a Fake Presidential Seal

How Trump Ended Up Onstage With a Fake Presidential Seal

Trump Got Onstage With a Fake Presidential Seal. Here's What We Know.

A Starbucks in Winterfell? 'Game of Thrones' coffee cup blunder spreads like wildfire