Fact Check

Obamas at a White House Ball

A supposed photograph of Barack and Michelle Obama dressed as a pimp and ho at White House event is a fake.

Published Oct. 1, 2009

Claim:
A photograph shows Barack and Michelle Obama dressed as a pimp and ho at a White House event.

No, this isn't a photograph of Barack and Michelle Obama at a White House function, a wedding, a Halloween party, a St. Patrick's Day party, or any other type of formal affair or party.

This image originated as a May 2009 entry in a Worth1000.com Photoshop contest, one entitled If Pimps Ruled. The gist of the contest was:

[In] this contest, your task is to show us what the world would be like if it were ruled by pimps and players. In other words, depict mundane ordinary people and things — doctors, grandparents, videogames, etc., if the world were run by pimps (and everyone was one).

The rules of the game are thus: Show what the world would look like if it were ruled by pimps and players. You can depict people, things (i.e. a tricked out funeral home) basically anything in a world where pimps rule.

The photograph used as the basis for this hoax was taken at the Governors Dinner on 22 February 2009, the Obamas' first formal dinner at the White House:

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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