Featured Image Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Ozempic, Politics, News
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Ozempic, Politics, News
Donald Trump has been called out for regurgitating a story about a mysterious 'friend' that supposedly uses Ozempic.
The remark was made from the Oval Office over the weekend (18 Apr), while the Republican leader discussed healthcare prices in the US.
"Actually, a friend of mine called me up," he began, honing his rant in on weight-loss drug costs. "He's a very rich guy, and he happens to be on Ozempic, I guess, at the time. It was not working, by the way.
"The guy was extremely successful but highly neurotic - got a lot of problems. I will not mention his name. He's begging me not to mention his name because he's become quite famous.
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"He's a big factor here. Very smart, very rich guy, very, very successful guy. He said, 'President,' - he used to call me 'Donny', now he calls me 'President', sign of respect - he said, 'I'm in London, I bought this stuff for £87. In New York, I pay $1300. What's going on?'."
Trump claimed: "I said, 'Well, that's the way it is, we pay the highest prices in the world'."
While the 79-year-old rambled on about, implicitly promoting his new online pharmaceutical drug market, TrumpRx, onlookers noticed that he'd retold the same controversial story about his weight-loss drug-using buddy. all over again with almost 100 per cent accuracy.
As a reminder, in May of last year, Trump told White House attendees at a press conference: "A friend of mine whose a businessman - very, very, very top guy - most of you would have heard of him, highly neurotic, brilliant businessman, seriously overweight, and he takes the fat shot drug.
"And he called me up, and he said, 'President' - he calls me, he used to call me Donald, now he calls me President, so, that's nice respect, but he's a tough guy, smart guy, very successful, very rich - 'President, could I ask a question'.
"'What?'," Trump claims he replied. "'I'm in London, and I just paid for this damn fat drug I take.' I said, 'It's not working. "He said, 'I just paid $88, and in New York I pay $,300, what the hell is going on?'"
A very similar story was told again in January of last year, when the father-of-five drifted off on a tangent during a roundtable about rural health care.
"A friend of mine who is a very smart guy, very, very rich, very powerful man, actually, but he’s very fat, and he took the fat... I call it the fat drug," Trump said again. "I won’t give you which one... It was Ozempic, I won’t tell you that."
He claimed his pal 'can’t walk across the street', adding: "After I told him that the drug does not work on him because I saw him recently and he’s actually fatter than ever, I said, 'The drug is not working on you, you’re going to have to go to something else but it does work on a lot of people.'
Calling out the right-wing leader for retelling the same story, one critic noted on X: "Trump’s 'anonymous rich neurotic Ozempic buddy' story again word for word recycled, still begging for no name-drop. Peak trust me bro vibes from the guy who can’t keep a secret."
Another questioned: "Howwwww many times do we have to hear this pretend story? He needs some new material."
"This sounded so familiar," a third hit out. "How many times has he told the same story?"
"How many times has he mentioned the fake guy on Ozempic...same s**t different day," a fourth teased.