The fallout from Joe Biden apparently calling Donald Trump supporters “garbage” continues: The Republican presidential candidate staged a publicity stunt in a garbage truck and the White House became embroiled in a dispute over a transcript of Biden's words.

Biden faced backlash after a snippet of his phone call with Voto Latino on Tuesday was shared online in which the president said: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters – his – his demonization of.” Latinos are unscrupulous, and that is incomprehensible.” -American.”

Among the comments that emerged from Biden's comment, a viral social media post made it appear that New York propagandists had seized on the president's words and covered trash cans with images of MAGA supporters for an ad urging locals to do so to keep the streets clean.

The claim

A post on X, formerly Twitter, by Ian Miles Cheong on October 30, 2024 stated: “This is New York City. Someone put up these posters. Disgusting.”

The post included a photo of two posters on trash cans depicting MAGA supporters with a red slash and the slogan “Keep NYC Trash Free.”

The facts

Although the poster is real, it has nothing to do with Biden's recent comments and was not created during the 2024 election cycle.

The posters were seen in New York in October 2018.

They have been attributed to street artist Winston Tseng. Although Tseng posted photos of the bins on his Instagram page, he initially denied being behind them, telling New York news channel PIX 11: “Just to clarify, I did not create or put up these posters. But if I did it, I would do it.” I don't want people to take them so seriously as they are meant to reflect certain parts of our society and not generalize beyond them.

“I just want the intended audience of my 'classist, elitist New Yorker' colleagues to hopefully be entertained by the 'unhelpful, tone-deaf message' as they go about their day in this garbage-filled liberal bubble.”

He later told the blog Brooklyn Street Art that they were his posters. The same photos shared this week were posted on Tseng's website in 2018.

In a statement to PIX 11 at the time, the New York City Department of Sanitation said it did not create the posters and “does not condone the unlawful defacing of city trash baskets or public property.”

Cheong, who takes the pictures Newsweek investigated.

Although the posters are not fakes, posting photos without a date or context gives the impression that they may be in response to Joe Biden's “garbage” comment.

The verdict

Misleading material.

Although the posters are real, they were not posted recently or during the 2024 election cycle. They were posted on dumpsters in New York City in 2018. The New York City Department of Sanitation was not affiliated with them. Street artist Winston Tseng later admitted they were his after initially denying they were his.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Checking Team