Did the White House publish a post commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of Harambe the Gorilla? Yes, that's true: The official White House account on X (formerly Twitter) made a post on May 27, 2026, on Harambe's birthday, and the eve of the 10-year anniversary of his death at the Cincinnati Zoo.
The post (archived here) was published on the official The White House account on X @WhiteHouse on May 27, 2026. The post's caption reads:
Today, we remember a legend.
On this day in history, Harambe would have celebrated another birthday. An icon that became part of internet history, American culture, and an entire generation's timeline.
Tomorrow marks 10 years since we lost him. Ten years since the moment the world stopped scrolling and collectively mourned something bigger than a meme.
He became a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe.
Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. And somehow, a decade later, his legacy still lives on.
Gone, but never forgotten.
Rest easy to a true patriot. 🕊️🇺🇸May 27, 1999 -- May 28, 2016
Forever in our hearts.
This is the photo included with the post:
(Image source: @WhiteHouse post on X.)
Harambe was shot and killed by a Cincinnati Zoo employee on May 28, 2016, minutes after a three-year-old child fell into the gorilla enclosure. The child was hospitalized and released the same day with non-life-threatening injuries (archived here). The incident happened on the day after Harambe's 17th birthday. Cincinnati's WLWT published a video (archived here) on YouTube on May 28, 2026 titled, "Remembering Harambe: Thursday marks 10 years since death of gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo". The footage in this news clip (embedded below) includes footage of the gorilla dragging the child through the water in the moat, but it does not show when Harambe was shot.
There were numerous memes and tributes circulated after Harambe's death as documented in a Know Your Meme entry (archived here) titled, "Harambe the Gorilla".
