The White House social media account Rapid Response 47 retweeted a Daily Mail article on Sunday and used the post to mock longtime President Donald Trump critics Bruce Springsteen and Stephen Colbert, citing a headline that described “stony faced celebs” after Trump’s appearance at the U.S. Open.
The account appended a taunting line and an emoji to the Daily Mail link, implying that Springsteen and Colbert were visibly upset by Trump’s presence. A full read of the article, however, shows the piece mainly listed famous attendees and said Springsteen and Colbert were "all smiles at center court," rather than "stony faced."
The Daily Mail item noted that Trump’s attendance was divisive and that increased security delayed some fans, but it did not substantiate the notion that Springsteen or Colbert were publicly distraught. Multiple outlets and photographers captured celebrities arriving, seated and reacting in varied ways as Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz defeated Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the men’s final.
Reports from other outlets described security-related disruptions for ordinary ticket-holders and celebrities alike. An anonymous source quoted by the New York Post’s Page Six called the scene an "absolute s–-tshow," saying that cars were blocked from parking lots and that some attendees walked long distances; the source said actors including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas and Ben Stiller waited in lines and that Debra Messing sat in a car for about an hour before being allowed out.
Broadcasters at the event captured mixed crowd reactions: boos directed at the president at times, and cheers at others. The mockery from Rapid Response 47 came as a political jibe consistent with the Trump operation’s frequent online targeting of prominent critics. Springsteen has been openly critical of Trump, and Colbert, whose long-running late-night franchise was canceled after Paramount Global — parent of CBS — settled a lawsuit involving Trump, has been a recurring target of the president’s public comments, HuffPost reported.
Trump celebrated the cancellation of Colbert’s show in the past and has issued warnings or threats to other late-night hosts and entertainers, according to reporting in the media. The retweet underscores how White House social accounts sometimes amplify sensational headlines from tabloid outlets to score political points on social platforms.
The Daily Mail article and the Rapid Response 47 repost drew attention on social media for the contrast between headline tone and article content, highlighting the gap that can exist between attention-grabbing headlines and the fuller details found in the text. Journalists and media observers noted the exchange as another example of how political teams leverage curated snippets of coverage to shape political messaging.
