What happened

An image claiming to show Kamala Harris as a McDonald's employee circulated widely on social media, particularly among Trump supporters. 

The image was released shortly after Donald Trump had questioned Harris's past claim of working at McDonald's during her college years, asserting that there was no record of her employment at the fast-food chain.

The photo, which appeared to show Harris in a blue McDonald's uniform, was later revealed to have been digitally manipulated by @TheInfiniteDude, an X user known for similar hoaxes who later claimed he/she is "a filmmaker exploring how fiction became the backbone of our civilization."

The hoaxer had superimposed Harris' face onto the body of Suzanne Bernier, a Canadian woman who worked at McDonald's in the early 1980s and passed away in 2007.

Why it happened

During the US 2024 Presidential elections, Doanld Trump and his supporters repeatedly challenged Harris's credibility regarding her claim of working at McDonald's while attending Howard University in the early 1980s.

In a campaign event, Trump donned a McDonald's apron and claimed that Harris had fabricated her employment history. 

The fake AI image was likely created to undermine Harris's narrative and serve as fodder for Trump's attacks during the election campaign.