Trump supporter Tomi Lahren inadvertently calls president a ‘jackass’ in Hindi while thanking Indians for support
Conservative activist calls president ‘wise as an owl’ – seemingly unaware that this is an insult in India
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Your support makes all the difference.Conservative activist Tomi Lahren inadvertently called Donald Trump a “jackass” in a message thanking members of the Indian community for supporting the president.
In a video shared on Twitter, Ms Lahren, a political commentator and Fox News "Nation" contributor, can be heard praising the Indian diaspora for apparently getting behind the “Make America Great Again” campaign.
“Because President Trump is wise like an owl, or as you guys would say in Hindi – I hope I’m pronouncing this right – President Trump is wise like an ullu. I hope I said that right,” Ms Lahren told her followers.
In Hindi, ullu does indeed mean owl. But unfortunately for Ms Lahren, to compare someone to an owl in India is to label them “a fool” or a “jackass”.
Eagle-eyed Hindi speakers were quick to spot the blunder, footage of which has since gone viral and attracted coverage from a number of major Indian news outlets. The original clip appears to have been recorded by Ms Lahren herself early on Tuesday morning, but was not visible on her social media channels later in the day.
Ms Lahren provoked plenty of amused reactions on Twitter with the gaffe, which came the morning after the president attempted to re-energise his re-election campaign on the first night of the Republican National Convention.
“I can’t,” one wrote, next to a laughing emoji. ‘President Trump is wise like an ullu’. In Hindi ullu means owl but [is] used as an insult to consider someone a fool. We all can agree with tomi that Trump is an ullu”.
Another said: “I’m dead. I don’t know what’s funnier, calling him an ullu or ‘as you guys would say it.... wise like an ooOOolloOo’”.
“He is an ullu - Owl - that’s right! Say that again..!” another Twitter user quipped.
Ms Lahren first gained national attention as a host on TheBlaze.
She was praised in some quarters for her “final thoughts” segment, where she frequently criticised liberal politics.
Many of her videos went viral, with the New York Times describing her as a “rising media star” in late 2016. Ms Lahren was suspended from TheBlaze in March 2017 after saying in an interview on The View that she believed women should have legal access to abortion.
Shortly after that, Ms Lahren began working for the Great America Alliance, a group vocally supportive of Mr Trump’s tenure in the White House.
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