CNN, 'HanAssholeSolo' and the #CNNBlackmail Backlash

On 28 June 2017, a Reddit user posting as 'HanAssholeSolo' submitted an edited clip to r/The_Donald that repurposed footage of Donald Trump's 2007 professional-wrestling appearance, superimposing the CNN logo over the figure Trump body-slams. On 2 July 2017, President Trump posted a version of the meme from his official account, drawing widespread condemnation that it encouraged violence against the press.

On 4 July 2017, CNN's KFile investigative unit published an article reporting that it had identified the person behind the account, who had a history of racist and antisemitic posts. CNN stated it was not publishing his identity because he was a private citizen who had apologized and shown remorse, but added a now-infamous line that it 'reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.' The user posted a lengthy apology disavowing violence against the press and his past bigotry.

Critics — especially on the political right — read CNN's language as a coercive threat, and the hashtag #CNNBlackmail trended on 4 July 2017, accusing CNN of blackmail and doxxing. Press-freedom commentators countered that CNN had not actually doxxed anyone, since it withheld the name.

The backlash escalated into real harassment of journalists: the KFile editor's parents and wife received roughly fifty harassing phone calls, and other team members reportedly received threatening messages. The episode became a flashpoint in the broader Trump-era conflict between the administration, online communities such as r/The_Donald, and the mainstream press. Reddit itself took no notable administrative action specific to the incident.