No, Trump didn’t thank Ye for a drawing of them

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, and President Donald Trump have a history that includes public statements of mutual admiration and a shared meal with a white nationalist. 

But a recent image spreading on social media that seems to show Trump responding to a stick-figure drawing Ye made isn’t authentic. 

“Thank you Kanye, very cool!” Trump appears to say on X in response to a purported post from @kanyewest, who the image suggests labeled two stick figures “Kanye” and “Trump.”

“hi donald i drew u a picture of me and u idk its kinda dumb but i thought youd like it idk,” the faux Ye post says.

A Jan. 20 Instagram post sharing the image flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

(Screengrab from Instagram)

“You don’t have to agree with Trump but the mob can’t make me not love him,” Ye said in an April 25, 2018, post. “We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.” 

A day later, according to Know Your Meme, a Reddit user posted this altered and fabricated version of the exchange, with the stick-figure drawing in lieu of Ye’s praise. 

We rate claims Trump responded “Thank you Kanye, very cool,” to a drawing from Ye False.