Very Ersatz News (NEW YORK) — The Congressional Black Caucus and  prominent Black leaders across the country condemned President Trump Thursday  for showing disrespect to  Civil Rights icon, Dr Martin Luther King, in what many area calling a crass attempt to curry favor with the Kremlin.

“What? He replaced the bust of MLK with a tea-pot from Putin?!” a shocked Al Sharpton asked reporters outside SCORES in Manhattan Thursday afternoon.  “We need a real American President, not a Russian avatar with a samovar!  The man should resign immediately!”

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied reports that the MLK bust had been replaced,  and insisted that the President’s father’s relationship with Mr Khrushchev — who served as the head of the Soviet Union from 1953-1964, and was a frequent guest at the Trump family home in Queens — had no bearing whatsoever on Mr Trump’s current relationship with Russia.

“The last time the President saw Nikita Khrushchev was when he was 12 years old at the Russian Tea Room in New York,  with his father and several high-ranking members of the American Communist Party who were doing business with the President’s father at the time.”