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| - In January 2026, photographs and videos circulated online allegedly showing dancers at U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, wearing historic European aristocratic costumes and dog masks.
Some social media users poked fun at the alleged footage, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office joking that the club was hosting a "furry party"— referring to a subculture of people with a strong interest in humanoid animals.
The videos and photos are authentic but unrelated to the furry community. They show scenes from the Hero Dog Awards Gala hosted by the American Humane Society (AHS), an animal welfare organization, at Mar-a-Lago on Jan. 9, 2026. We verified the footage by cross-checking
We reached out to AHS to learn more about the inspiration behind such costumes and will update this story if we receive a response.
The Hero Dog Awards Gala is an annual fundraiser held by AHS that recognizes inspirational dogs in several categories: therapy dogs, service and guide dogs, military dogs, law enforcement and first responder dogs, and shelter dogs. Each year, hundreds of dogs are nominated, with five semi-finalists selected per category, which are then whittled down to five finalists.
The AHS official Instagram account tagged the following finalist Instagram accounts run by the dog's handlers: lieutenant_dan_the_twc, k9_ultra_uscg and donald.tg.dog, among others. These accounts posted footage of the dogs at the gala, accompanied by their handlers, as well as footage and photographs of individuals dancing in Marie Antoinette-style gowns and wearing dog masks.
(Instagram user k9_ultra_uscg)
The same accounts also shared pictures of Trump speaking at the event.
(Instagram user k9_ultra_uscg)
(Instagram user harrison_esd_k9)
A search of Instagram for user-generated footage from the party, using Mar-a-Lago location tags, uncovered numerous videos captured by other attendees from multiple angles. Such footage can be seen here, here (archived), here (archived), here (archived) and here (archived).
(Instagram user usa_life_with_uma)
(Instagram user usa_life_with_uma)
Several attendees also posted photographs of themselves with the dancers dressed in costumes and dog masks:
(Instagram user missmodelusa)
(Instagram user usa_life_with_uma)
(Instagram user riflenumber13)
Various attendees posted footage of Trump arriving and speaking at the event on Instagram, seen here (archived), here and here. Media coverage and photographs of Trump arriving at Palm Beach International Airport show he was spending the weekend of Jan. 9 at Mar-a-Lago and was thus present at the gala.
Details in the above clips, including background elements, decor and multiple videos showing people posing with the dancers from different angles, indicated that the gala took place at Mar-a-Lago and featured dancers wearing those costumes.
Previously, we have covered authentic footage taken at Mar-a-Lago that showed women dancing in giant cocktail glasses at Trump's "Great Gatsby" party.
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