The White House Honors Slain Gorilla Harambe in Bizarre Social Media Post: ‘A True Patriot’

The White House took a moment to honor slain gorilla Harambe in a bizarre social media post.

“Today, we remember a legend,” the official account for the White House wrote via X on Wednesday, May 27. “On this day in history, Harambe would have celebrated another birthday. An icon that became part of internet history, American culture, and an entire generation’s timeline.”

The White House went on to add that when Harambe died “the world stopped scrolling and collectively mourned something bigger than a meme.”

The post continued by calling the gorilla “a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe.”

“Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news,” the statement added. “And somehow, a decade later, his legacy still lives on. Gone, but never forgotten. Rest easy to a true patriot.”

Harambe was a western lowland gorilla who became a household name after he was tragically shot and killed on May 28, 2016, after a 3-year-old boy fell into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. His death sparked outrage as the public argued whether it was necessary to use lethal force in order to save the toddler.

President Donald Trump was in the midst of his first presidential campaign at the time, and he defended the zoo’s decision to end Harambe’s life.

“I think it’s a very tough call. It’s amazing because there were moments with the gorilla the way he held that child it was almost like a mother holding a baby. It looked so beautiful and calm. And then there were moments where it looked pretty dangerous,” Trump, 79, said in an interview with Time on May 31, 2016.

The former reality TV star argued that he didn’t “think [zoo officials] had a choice.”

“I mean, probably they didn’t have a choice,” he concluded. “You have a child, a young child who’s at stake, and it’s too bad there wasn’t another way.”