A number of prominent MAGA media figures and Fox News hosts were absolutely ecstatic this week over the prospect of Melania Trump finally gracing the cover of Vanity Fair, declaring that they couldn’t “wait to see all the liberal meltdowns” over the first lady’s appearance on the fashion magazine.
There was just one little problem – the picture they shared is a fake.
This past weekend, Semafor reported that Vanity Fair’s new chief editor Mark Guiducci “has made his presence felt” at the Conde Nast publication since taking over for Radhika Jones at the top of the masthead.
“Guiducci’s mandate to rethink the publication’s relationship with power and celebrity is likely to mean a greater open-mindedness to seeking access to figures likely to repel magazine’s liberal readers,” Semafor noted. “He’s told people he’s potentially interested in putting Melania Trump on the cover.”
The story took off in right-wing media after stories claimed Vanity Fair staffers were furious over the possibility of a Melania Trump cover, with one unnamed “mid-level editor” saying that they’d “walk out the motherf***ing door, and half my staff will follow me” if the magazine tried to “normalize this despot and his wife.”
Considering that Melania Trump’s lack of fashion mag covers has been a sore spot for conservatives (and the first lady) for years and a consistent source of ragebait content for Fox News, the right-wing network immediately jumped all over the story.
During Tuesday’s broadcast of the president’s favorite morning show Fox & Friends, for instance, host Brian Kilmeade called for the anonymous Vanity Fair editor to be outed and fired, while his colleague Ainsley Earhardt said she would buy several editions of the magazine if Mrs. Trump were on the cover.
With the right-wing media ecosystem continuing to feast on the purported behind-the-scenes turmoil at Vanity Fair, which also included pro-Trump columnist Miranda Devine reporting that the first lady was “not the slightest bit interested” in doing a cover story, a conservative YouTube channel tossed more chum into the water on Thursday.
Claiming to have “LEAKED” details about the fury at the magazine, Next News Network – a right-wing outlet which has been repeatedly accused of peddling fake news and hoaxes – tweeted out an AI-generated photo of a supposed upcoming Vanity Fair cover featuring the first lady.
“Source inside VF tells me 3 senior editors threatened to resign during today’s emergency meeting. One reportedly screamed ‘I won’t work for a MAGA propaganda machine!’” Next News, which is led by MAGA provocateur Gary Franchi, tweeted on Thursday.
“The cover shot by Annie Leibovitz shows Melania in couture with the headline ‘The American Queen’ – and it’s absolutely STUNNING. Marketing dept estimates 2.5M newsstand sales (would beat their Obama exclusive by 400K) but editorial is in ‘total meltdown mode,’” the account continued, adding that Conde Nast’s chief content officer Anna Wintour had expressed “concern” to Guiducci over the cover.
Adding that the “photo shoot apparently included 47 white doves and a gold-plated eagle,” Next News claimed that “cover drops Monday” and that “liberal media Twitter is about to EXPLODE.”
Meanwhile, on his YouTube show, Franchi admitted that he had created the cover image himself, which showed the first lady wearing a gold crown alongside captions that read “The American Queen” and “Melania Trump’s Silent Revolution.” At the same time, he insisted everything else about the tweet was legitimate.
“Now I do have a confession to make. I actually made that cover with AI. But the facts are the same,” he said while letting out a hearty laugh. “I made that because I wanted to troll the left because they are melting down over this becoming a possibility! So there’s my disclaimer.”
It didn’t take long for Next News’ fake Vanity Fair cover to make the rounds of conservative social media, with many seemingly taking it at face value – at least at first.
“I can’t wait to see all of the liberal meltdowns over this on TikTok. @libsoftiktok keep us posted!” Turning Point USA founder and Trump ally Charlie Kirk reacted, tagging influential anti-trans X account Libs of TikTok.
“We need to meme the cover into existence,” Kirk later responded after Libs of TikTok approvingly reacted to his tweet. After another user asked him if the cover was real, he added: “Not yet is the correct answer.”
Fox News host Laura Ingraham also shared the fake cover on X, writing “let the meltdown begin” while adding how much she loved the image. A short time later, however, she appeared to acknowledge that she’d been fooled by the doctored photo – but that it was still worth sharing online.
“Real or not real…hilarious to read the Left’s reaction,” she noted while captioning her original tweet.
“I can’t wait to buy this and frame it,” Trump’s self-appointed “loyalty enforcer” Laura Loomer declared alongside the AI-generated cover. Other MAGA social media influencers with large followings also blasted out the image on X, the everything app.
“NEW: The Vanity Fair Melania Trump cover,” pro-Trump X account Autism Capital posted. “Reportedly staffers are threatening to quit over Melania being featured saying ‘We won’t support MAGA propaganda.’”
Ultimately, the fake Melania Trump cover gave Gavin Newsom’s social media team – which has been parodying Donald Trump’s over-the-top posting style to hold a mirror up to MAGA supporters and right-wing media – the opportunity to troll the right.
“AN HONOR! THANK YOU!!!” the California governor’s press office tweeted alongside its own AI-generated Vanity Fair cover.
Calling Newsom the “American King,” the image also included the “enigmatic” governor wearing a gold crown while teasing a featured story about his “vocal revolution,” which would dive into “hair, gel, and the art of being so handsome.”
