A photo posted Tuesday by Louisiana political blogger Lamar White Jr. does not in fact show Bobby Jindal's official portrait but rather a constituent's painting that is featured prominently in the Louisiana governor's office.
The painting, which White originally claimed was his official portrait, fueled much discussion on Twitter over the lack of resemblance to the two-term Republican governor and 2016 presidential hopeful. Besides the fact that the Indian-American politician's skin tone appears noticeably lighter, the facial features look completely dissimilar, his shoulders look broader and his hair fuller.
Louisiana taxpayers should probably ask for a refund on Bobby Jindal's official portrait (via @CenLamar/@TheInd) pic.twitter.com/qUZ5xLCE5M— Logan Smith (@LoganJames) February 3, 2015
The picture of Jindal's portrait had not been altered in any way and will be used in an upcoming profile published in @theInd.— Lamar White, Jr (@CenLamar) February 3, 2015
Jindal's Chief of Staff Kyle Plotkin tweeted that the portrait in question was donated by one of his constituents. Here's Jindal's actual official portrait:
Hey @CenLamar-that's not the official portrait. Constituent loaned it.This 1's official. Thx 4 ur race-baiting tweet pic.twitter.com/wx2SBY3ZBQ— Kyle Plotkin (@kjplotkin) February 4, 2015
That didn't stop Twitter users from coming up with their own interpretations of the art.
i dont get the fuss about bobby jindal's portrait, i think it looks fine pic.twitter.com/ZPJh05KIK1— Tracy Clayton (@brokeymcpoverty) February 3, 2015
the Bobby Jindal portrait was tasteful imho pic.twitter.com/Df0ibgI4VC— Wolf Blitzer (@deep_beige) February 3, 2015
The constituent's portrait may have struck a nerve with some because Jindal has been accused of downplaying his Indian-American heritage for political gain.
Last month, an MSNBC contributor came under fire after he suggest that Jindal was trying to "scrub some of the brown off his skin" by echoing the claims of a Fox News commentator that Birmingham, UK was a no-go zone for non-Muslims, even after the network had retracted the statements.
Jindal has also been vocal about his views that immigrants should make more of an effort to assimilate. In an op-ed for Politico in 2013, Jindal partially blamed the country's racial divides on a sense of separateness and called for and end to the "politically correct trend of changing the melting pot into a salad bowl."