A Michigan credit union CEO is out of a job after a family vacation joke went viral — and the sweatshirts at the center of the controversy never even existed.
Jane Smith, the now-former CEO of Family First Credit Union in Saginaw, Michigan, lost her position after posting an AI-generated photo showing her family in matching “Lake America” sweatshirts. The image referenced President Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario.
Smith created the photo using ChatGPT before a 10-day family trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The family took a real photograph at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, then digitally added sweatshirts bearing the words “Lake America” — the name Trump ordered the federal government to use for the Great Lake.
She shared the altered image on Facebook with the caption: “Like our sweatshirts? Not sure Canada will. Lol lol.”
The family never actually wore the sweatshirts.
Michigan CEO out of job after posting AI photo of ‘Lake America’ sweatshirts https://t.co/VSYdyN25RTpic.twitter.com/xbm3gEYkwT
— Toronto Sun (@TheTorontoSun) September 25, 2026
Smith told ABC12 the photograph was meant as a joke about the renaming, not a political statement. She said the image was originally posted privately with a label indicating it had been AI-generated before her sister screenshotted it and reposted it publicly without the AI disclaimer.
The joke didn’t land well north of the border.
The photograph spread across Canadian social media, where critics accused Smith of disrespecting Canadians. The backlash was particularly intense because the family was traveling to Halifax — the city that famously welcomed thousands of stranded airline passengers after the September 11 terrorist attacks closed American airspace in 2001.
Smith apologized and deleted the post. “I made a mistake. I own that mistake, and I am committed to learning from it,” she said, adding that the image “should never have been created or shared.”
She later told ABC12 she understood why someone in Halifax might find the photograph offensive. “I am not a person that would ever want to offend or hurt anybody,” Smith said. “I do regret having any post that would make someone feel like we don’t value them as human beings.”
Family First Credit Union announced Smith was no longer employed by the company, effective immediately. Chief Operations Officer Jason Acosta was named interim CEO.
The board did not say whether Smith resigned or was fired, telling CBC News that state law bars it from discussing the circumstances of her departure. The board had earlier said it “unequivocally disapproves and rejects” the social-media post.
“We sincerely apologize for the concern, disappointment and pain this situation has caused our members and community,” the credit union said on Facebook.
Trump’s August 27 executive order directed the federal government to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America and instructed federal agencies to update their maps accordingly. Canada’s government rejected the name.
The episode illustrates how national political disputes now follow Americans into workplaces, universities, and private businesses — places that once existed largely outside of politics.
Smith’s family reportedly cut its trip to Halifax short after she began receiving death threats.
The photograph was deleted. Smith apologized. And now she’s out of a job — all over a sweatshirt that never existed, bearing a name for a lake that, at least for the federal government, does.
