About

Jared Kushner's Axios on HBO Interview refers to a series of jokes, memes and responses to a filmed interview with White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner on the HBO television news series Axios.

Origin

On June 2nd, 2019, Jared Kushner appeared on Axios on HBO, a news magazine television series. During the interview, Axios' Jonathan Swan questioned Kushner about Birtherism and the middle east peace discussions (shown below, left and right, respectively).

Spread

Following the interview's release, people commented on, criticized and mocked Kushner's responses. Twitter user @atrupar tweeted the Birtherism response and wrote, "Holy shit Jared Kushner is even more of an embarrassment than I thought. This clip is brutal." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 3 million views, 50,000 likes and 14,000 retweets (shown below).

Kushner's response "I wasn't really involved in that" became a catchphrase for mocking the interview. Twitter^[1] user @jeremynewberger parodied the exchange by changing the questions in the interview to questions specifically about hate groups. The post received more than 500 like and 110 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Throughout the day, others mocked the phrase. Twitter user @jbouie tweeted,^[2] "Mr. Kushner, was slavery racist?" The tweet received more than 2,500 retweets and 365 likes in 24 hours (shown below, center).

Tech reporter Kara Swisher tweeted,^[3] "Let's start a Jared Kushner inspired hashtag #iwasntinvolvedinthat. Me first: Godfather 3." The tweet received more than 1,100 likes and 155 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Following Swisher's tweet, others shared images of famously maligned pieces of culture and adding the hashtag. For example, Twitter^[4] @gabemeisterlaw's tweeted the poster for the film Waterworld (shown below).

Several media outlets covered the interview and the public's reaction, including Uproxx,^[5] CNN,^[6] Newsweek^[7] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References