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Trump tweets photo of his head atop shirtless Rocky body, jokes fly

The president's head on Sylvester Stallone's body? Go ahead, meme-makers, knock yourself out.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper

President Donald Trump is coming out fighting. On Wednesday, the president tweeted a famous photo of Sylvester Stallone as fictional boxer Rocky Balboa -- only this image had Trump's head where Stallone's should be. 

Cue the famed Gonna Fly Now theme song, because Twitter users pulled out their heavyweight jokes and memes.

More than one Twitter user saw a resemblance to a famous Simpsons scene where Homer does a little wishful thinking when he looks in the mirror and sees a ripped version of himself.

While others responded with different manipulated photos, including one of him in the ring with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 

The original photo was a promo for 1982's Rocky III, but many made references to 1985's Rocky IV, which features the American boxer taking on Soviet boxer Ivan Drago. "Sorry, but Rocky beat the Russian," wrote one Twitter user.

The original photo was from Rocky III, but Trump tweeted his version on the 34th anniversary of the release of Rocky IV, an anniversary ESPN had pointed out in a morning tweet.

While the faked image seemed random to many, CBS Digital political reporter Grace Segers spotted a possible tie-in, writing, "This is a reference to a comment Trump made at his rally last night where he claimed that his doctors at Walter Reed had said: 'Show us that gorgeous chest.'"

Request granted. Kind of.

Originally published Nov. 27, 10:53 a.m. PT.