Did Danish officials or Danish media play "Send in the Clowns" before President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's Greenland press conference at the United Nations? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Danish officials or media selected the music played before the press event on Sept. 22, 2026. Both Denmark's press office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations press office said they were not involved in selecting music for the event.
The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) by the @donkoclock account on X on Sept. 22, 2026. It read:
LMFAO - Denmark has background music on waiting for Trump that had the lyrics 'send in the clowns'
The camera then finds Marco Rubio and zooms in. 🤣🤣
This is what a screenshot of the video in the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @donkoclock on X.)
The video is embedded below:
LMFAO - Denmark has background music on waiting for Trump that had the lyrics "send in the clowns"
-- Donk Media ♻️™ (@donkoclock) September 22, 2026
The camera then finds Marco Rubio and zooms in. 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/ior3TWVsoh
Two other live feeds of the press conference confirm that "Send in the Clowns" was part of the playlist ahead of the event. One was by CNBC-TV18 (archived here) on YouTube. The other was by Magno News (archived here) on Facebook.
Lead Stories requested responses to the "Send in the Clowns" claim from Denmark, the United Nations, and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
In a Sept. 23, 2026, email, the Danish press office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said:
Denmark was not involved in the choice of music during the signing.
The Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General also responded by email on Sept. 23, 2026. Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Daniela Gross De Almeida said:
Please contact the US Mission, as we didn't organize this event.
Lead Stories did not receive an immediate reply from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
