Rubio denies fashion inspiration from Maduro after Nike tracksuit goes viral

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied taking fashion cues from deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on Thursday, after a photo of him wearing a grey Nike tracksuit on Air Force One went viral.

The image, taken during the flight to China with President Donald Trump, drew immediate comparisons to the Nike Tech Fleece outfit Maduro wore when U.S. forces captured him in January.

Why did Rubio's Nike tracksuit photo go viral?

The photo spread rapidly because Rubio's grey Nike tracksuit closely matched, in both brand and color, the outfit Maduro was photographed in when he was seized and handcuffed aboard a helicopter by U.S. forces.

White House communications director Steven Cheung amplified the comparison himself, posting on social media that Rubio was "rocking the Nike Tech 'Venezuela' on Air Force One." The similarity struck a nerve given Rubio's central role in orchestrating Maduro's removal from power.

What did Rubio say about the Maduro tracksuit comparison?

Speaking to NBC Nightly News from Beijing, Rubio denied any intentional message and turned the comparison around.

"You know what, he copied me because I had it before. I mean, I don't know when he bought his," Rubio said of Maduro. He added: "The bottom line is that that's a suit, that it's comfortable. There was no message. I didn't even know he was taking the picture."

What is Rubio's connection to Maduro's removal from power?

Rubio, a Cuban-American and longstanding critic of Latin American leftist governments, helped lay the groundwork for the January 3 operation that ousted Maduro.

The operation ended the tenure of a leader the United States had treated as a nemesis for years. U.S. prosecutors had charged Maduro and his wife with drug trafficking, charges both denied.

Following Maduro's removal, his vice president Delcy Rodriguez took over Venezuela with U.S. support. Rubio's role in engineering the ouster made the tracksuit comparison all the more pointed to observers, whether or not it was intentional.