A multimedia artist used a projector Saturday to light up the front of Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., with images of floating 'poop' emojis and the word "s***hole" in bold, blue letters.
What happened?
The artistic protest came in response to alleged comments made by President Donald Trump during an immigration meeting with legislators on Thursday. During the meeting, lawmakers reportedly suggested granting visas to people from Haiti, El Salvador and countries in Africa.
In response, Trump allegedly said, "Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?" He reportedly added that America "should have more people from places like Norway." The comments were reported by multiple mainstream news outlets. A firestorm followed, with Trump being called insensitive and racist. Trump has denied making the comments.
Media called the commentary a major setback to negotiations on DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that expires in March. There are about 690,000 young adults protected under DACA. Often described as Dreamers, they are undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children.
Robin Bell, owner of Bell Visuals, posted a series of Twitter videos showing the images he projected onto Trump Tower. On his Twitter page, Bell describes himself as the founder of Bell Visuals, and "an award-winning editor, video journalist, and multimedia artist based in Washington DC."
Sh*thole Projections 1-13-18 #resist https://t.co/PrmnpEaCMm— robin bell (@robin bell) 1515889178.0
On Twitter, Trump denied making the comments about the other nations. In another tweet, he denied saying anything negative about Haitians or Haiti.
"Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country," Trump tweeted, and suggested he should record future meetings so his words can be proven.
The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough wa… https://t.co/8PvNzf41G4— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1515760138.0
Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Nev… https://t.co/HivKR2wF8g— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1515764929.0
What have people said?
Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), a Haitian-American, called Trump's alleged remarks hurtful and unkind.
"This behavior is unacceptable from the leader of our nation," she said. "My parents came from one of those countries but proudly took the oath of allegiance to the United States and took on the responsibilities of everything that being a citizen comes with...The president must apologize to both the American people and the nations he so wantonly maligned."
She added that Trump's remarks were "unkind, divisive, elitist and fly in the face of our nation's values."