It seems even when apparent Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is not 100 percent involved in a story, he still somehow finds his name in the press. This time, a photo of a young woman, looking battered and bloody, surfaced and was reported to have been assaulted by Donald Trump supporters. According to actor Bruce Campbell, nothing could be further from the truth.
Concerns about the young woman really kicked off Monday, when this tweet began making the rounds about a female Donald Trump supporter that was apparently assaulted.
Here’s what happened to female Trump supporter when she met ‘peaceful’ and ‘tolerant’ liberals. pic.twitter.com/H1sUJDwQqa
— Conservative Nation (@Cons_Nation) June 6, 2016
According to Entertainment Weekly , it did not take Campbell long to weigh in on the photo, which he said was merely a makeup test and not evidence of a Donald Trump supporter having been assaulted at a rally.
Check your facts, folks. This is an actress named Samara Weaving from #AshVsEvilDead . This is a make-up test. Sad. https://t.co/JAAM8VWry6
— Bruce Campbell (@GroovyBruce) June 8, 2016
There have been widespread reports of Donald Trump supporters being assaulted at rallies, and while the image of Samara Weaving is quite shocking due to the bloodiness of it, it would seem that in this case, no Donald Trump supporters were harmed in the making of this photo.
In fact, Samara Weaving has shown up in Ash vs. the Evil Dead, is the niece of Hugo Weaving of the Matrix and Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, and is also known for her appearances in Home and Away. Ash vs. the Evil Dead is, according to Mediaite , a continuation of the story that ultimately brought Campbell to fame.
For her part, Weaving has hit her Twitter account to say how she feels about her image being used improperly online.
I’m not American. I can’t vote in your country. This is so stupid. LOLCANO @Cons_Nation get rid of this please! https://t.co/he1LPHSoqg
— Samara Weaving (@Sweaving) June 8, 2016
By the way, for those who are uncertain as to what LOLCANO means, Slang says that LOLCANO is effectively the same as a sudden burst of laughter, or LOL.
Weaving has good cause to be unimpressed by her image being used to represent a Donald Trump supporter who was assaulted. She is an actress of Australian citizenship, so as such, it does not really matter whether she thinks that Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or Bernie Sanders would make a good United States president. She cannot even vote in the United States.
While it is true that during the Donald Trump San Jose rally, a woman had been pelted by eggs, according to Snopes , Samara Weaving’s image has been used in a propaganda campaign that got its start on Facebook.
Weaving is also not the only one whose image has been used to represent someone injured at a rally for Donald Trump. Another image made the rounds as well, supposedly representing someone who had been assaulted at a Donald Trump rally, but Snopes reports that the image was actually taken from a Spanish telenovela and not from that rally.
Images of a bruised and bloodied Weaving were apparently first published in January, 2016, and had no connection whatsoever to any Donald Trump event. Certainly, Campbell is right in suggesting that people should check their facts before hopping on a viral campaign designed to illustrate that either Donald Trump supporters or any supporters of another political party, for that matter, would injure anyone else.
While some might argue that people might become so blinded by politics that they become like zombies, in this case, Samara Weaving is not a Donald Trump zombie, or a zombie for any other candidate. To be sure, people need to be aware of the origin of many images prior to their appearance online. Unfortunately, the representation of Weaving as a bloodied Donald Trump supporter has only served to highlight how deep our blindness goes.
[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]