--- title: Trump Says He Called Tim Cook the Right Name description: In the wake of a video of Trump referring to Apple CEO Tim Cook as "Tim Apple" going viral, Trump is claiming that he said the right name. canonical: https://time.com/5549015/trump-calls-tim-cook-tim-apple/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-11T15:43:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:58:00.558Z og:title: Trump Says He Called Tim Cook the Right Name og:description: The president claims we just didn't hear it og:url: https://time.com/5549015/trump-calls-tim-cook-tim-apple/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e0cfc2d391bd83b/6989468786f68e763f6eb7ec/tim-cook-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tim-Cook-Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says He Called Tim Cook the Right Name twitter:description: The president claims we just didn't hear it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e0cfc2d391bd83b/6989468786f68e763f6eb7ec/tim-cook-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Says He Called Tim Cook the Right Name But We Just Didn't Hear It  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 11, 2019 3:43 PM UTC  Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump during an American Workforce Policy Advisory board meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump during an American Workforce Policy Advisory board meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, March 6, 2019.Al Drago—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 11, 2019 3:43 PM UTC In the wake of a video of [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/5464321/trump-iphone-tariffs/) referring to [Apple CEO Tim Cook](http://time.com/collection-post/5502591/tim-cook-data-privacy/) as [“Tim Apple”](http://time.com/5547527/tim-cook-trolls-donald-trump/) going viral, Trump is claiming that he actually said the right name. While speaking to Republican donors at his [Mar-a-Lago club](http://time.com/5521886/trump-trips-mar-a-lago-cost/) in Palm Beach, Fla. on Friday, Trump [reportedly](https://www.axios.com/trump-rnc-donors-apple-tim-cook-lie-2fd8b004-6fc3-4f81-9eb0-3b92f3264ef1.html?utm%5Fsource=twitter&utm%5Fmedium=twsocialshare&utm%5Fcampaign=organic) said that he had not referred to Cook as “Tim Apple,” but rather said “Tim Cook Apple” quickly with no emphasis on “Cook.” He went on to accuse the media of spreading “fake news” by reporting that he had said “Tim Apple.” However, judging by the reactions of Cook and Ivanka Trump, if Trump did say “Cook,” it was inaudible to the two people who were sitting next to him during the meeting for the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board at which the incident occurred. Cook took to social media to seemingly make light of the apparent gaffe by [replacing his last name in his Twitter profile with the Apple logo](http://time.com/5547527/tim-cook-trolls-donald-trump/) while Ivanka responded to a _Daily Show_ video poking fun at Trump’s history of calling people by the wrong name the with three crying-laughing emojis. > [](https://twitter.com/IvankaTrump/status/1103657091112357888) Watch the original Trump video below. > [](https://twitter.com/sokane1/status/1103421841505505280) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5549015/trump-calls-tim-cook-tim-apple/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5549015/trump-calls-tim-cook-tim-apple/"},"headline":"Trump Says He Called Tim Cook the Right Name But We Just Didn't Hear It","datePublished":"2019-03-11T15:43:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:58:00.558Z","description":"The president is claiming that reports that he said \"Tim Apple\" are \"fake news\"","url":"https://time.com/5549015/trump-calls-tim-cook-tim-apple/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","viral","Tim cook","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e0cfc2d391bd83b/6989468786f68e763f6eb7ec/tim-cook-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e0cfc2d391bd83b/6989468786f68e763f6eb7ec/tim-cook-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tim-Cook-Trump","caption":"Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump during an American Workforce Policy Advisory board meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, March 6, 2019.","creditText":"Al Drago—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5549015/trump-calls-tim-cook-tim-apple/","name":"Trump Says He Called Tim Cook the Right Name But We Just Didn't Hear It"}}]}] ```