The chief executive of a Michigan bank has lost her job after facing backlash for a social media photo of her family in sweatshirts that read “Lake America,” referencing Donald Trump’s relabeling of Lake Ontario.
Jane Smith from Family First Credit Union recently went viral after sharing the photo of her and three relatives wearing navy blue crewnecks with the words “Lake America” scrawled in white. The picture was snapped as her family left on September 11 for a 10-day trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, but Smith says the sweatshirts were edited onto their bodies using AI.
"We weren't trying to make a political statement," Smith told Michigan outlet WJRT. "However, we were kind of poking fun at the fact that one of the Great Lakes' names were getting changed."
Family First Credit Union announced Wednesday that Smith was no longer with the company and that Jason Acosta, the chief operations officer, would serve as interim CEO.
“We sincerely apologize for the concern, disappointment and pain this situation has caused our members and community,” the bank wrote on Facebook.
“We understand that members of our community may hold different perspectives about this decision. Our responsibility is to act in the best interest of the Credit Union, uphold the trust of our members and continue putting our community first.”
Smith said the photo came to fruition after she and her family began discussing the president’s executive order signed last month to rename Lake Ontario. The directive was given amid an escalating trade war with Canada and seen as a jab at America’s northern neighbor.
Smith said that her family took the photo and then put it through ChatGPT to add the “Lake America” sweatshirts. “We never had actual sweatshirts. We never wore sweatshirts,” she told WJRT.
"I understand if I was someone in Halifax and I thought a poor group of people walked in wearing those sweatshirts, it is highly offensive and I would understand why they would be so angry,” Smith reflected.
Her family decided to return from their trip early because Smith said she was getting death threats.
"I am not a person that would ever want to offend or hurt anybody," Smith said. "I do regret having any post that would make someone feel like we don't value them as human beings.”
Trump’s demands to relabel geographic landmarks — which have also included changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America — have been deeply controversial.
Tech giants Google and Apple have both been criticized for changing their maps apps to display Lake Ontario and Lake America for U.S. users.
