Trump faces backlash over post depicting himself anime character ‘Naruto’

US President Donald Trump is facing backlash over his unauthorized use of imagery from popular anime characters.

Nearly 20,000 Japanese people have signed a petition launched in response to a social media post by US President Donald Trump depicting himself as the popular anime character Naruto Uzumaki.

Trump shared an AI-generated video on June 6 on his Truth Social platform portraying himself as Naruto, the protagonist of the popular manga and anime series Naruto. The post sparked criticism in Japan.

According to Jiji Press, Naruto fans on social media expressed anger, arguing that the character’s image had been used without permission.

In addition to Trump’s post, critics have also pointed to a March incident in which the White House used imagery from the popular anime Yu-Gi-Oh! in a video related to attacks on Iran that was posted through the US social media company X.

A March statement posted from the official Yu-Gi-Oh! account on X said that “the original creators and anime staff were not involved in any way, and no permission was given for the use of the intellectual property in question.”

Nearly 20,000 signatures

On Tuesday, a petition titled "Protect Japanese Manga" was launched on the platform Change.org to protest Trump’s Naruto-related post.

The petition statement recalled that a similar campaign had been organized in March to protest the White House’s use of Yu-Gi-Oh! content.

Following Trump’s post, organizers said the petition was reopened to protest such uses and to communicate concerns to copyright holders and other stakeholders.

Since being relaunched on June 9, the petition has gathered nearly 20,000 signatures.

The petition also noted that after the Yu-Gi-Oh! incident, support was sought from members of Japan’s parliament, and that the details of the campaign were shared with the relevant government bodies through the Cabinet Office, including the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Agency for Cultural Affairs.

“Subsequently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a request to the US Embassy in Japan regarding the unauthorized use of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Nintendo games on the official White House X account,” the statement said.

“This petition is not intended to deny or criticize fan-created derivative works or individual creative expression, but expresses concern about the possibility that footage or imagery from official works may be used in political or military contexts in ways that differ from the intentions of the rights holders or creators,” it added.