On 13 March 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer accompanied Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as they met with reporters to discuss the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the American Health Care Act.

Although the plan to replace the Affordable Care Act was clearly in the spotlight, social media users noticed something seemingly amiss in the background: Sean Spicer was wearing two different shoes:

The above-displayed image is real; it was taken by Stephen Crowley of the New York Times. Similar photographs showing Spicer in his oddly colored footwear were also available from Getty Images, and his mismatched feet can also be seen in video from the event:

Although this mage was widely used to mock (or concern troll ) Spicer for wearing two different colored shoes, it appears that Spicer’s choice of footwear was due to a medical reason, rather than an odd fashion choice or a sign of impeding mental collapse. A close-up of shot of Spicer’s mismatched shoes shows fairly clearly that one of the “shoes” is a type of walking boot or cast:



A photograph of Spicer leaving the event revealed the back of this piece of footwear. Again, it looks more like a walking cast than a dress shoe:

Sean Spicer did not respond to our request for comment.