WASHINGTON, D.C., United States — US President Donald Trump has removed a social media video that included a racially offensive clip portraying former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, following a wave of condemnation from Democrats, civil rights leaders and members of his own party.
The clip appeared at the end of a 62-second video shared on Trump’s Truth Social account, which also contained unfounded claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Set to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight, the final segment depicted the Obamas as apes, imagery widely recognised as a racist trope historically used to dehumanise Black people.
Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, a close Trump ally and the only Black Republican in the US Senate, urged the president to take down the video.
“I’m praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Scott wrote. “The President should remove it.”
The White House initially defended the post, describing it as an “internet meme video” and accusing critics of “fake outrage”. However, the video was later deleted, with a White House official saying a staffer had “erroneously” shared it.
The clip appears to have originated from an October post on X by conservative meme creator Xerias. In addition to the Obamas, the video portrayed several prominent Democrats as animals, including New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Joe Biden, who is shown as an ape eating a banana.
The Obamas have not publicly commented.
Political and public reaction
Trump’s reposting of the video triggered swift and fierce backlash.
“Disgusting behaviour by the president,” California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office wrote on X. “Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was more direct, stating: “Donald Trump is a racist.”
Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser in the Obama administration, said:
“Let it haunt Trump and his racist followers that future Americans will embrace the Obamas as beloved figures while studying him as a stain on our country.”
Civil rights leaders also weighed in. NAACP president Derrick Johnson described the video as “disgusting and utterly despicable,” accusing Trump of attempting to distract the public from scrutiny surrounding the Epstein files and economic concerns.
“You know who isn’t in the Epstein files? Barack Obama. You know who actually improved the economy as president? Barack Obama,” Johnson said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who has previously accused Trump of racial stereotyping, labelled the president a “vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder” and called on Republicans to publicly denounce the post.
White House response
In a statement sent to Vivid Voice News, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the video’s intent, saying it depicted “President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King.”
“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” she added.
Later on Friday, another White House official acknowledged the post had been removed and said it was shared in error by a staff member.
Criticism from within the GOP
Republican criticism extended beyond Senator Scott.
New York Representative Mike Lawler described the post as “wrong and incredibly offensive, whether intentional or a mistake” and said it “should be deleted immediately with an apology offered.”
A pattern of attacks on Obama
The controversy adds to Trump’s long record of attacks on Barack Obama.
Before his first term, Trump was a leading proponent of the false “birther” conspiracy, which claimed Obama was born in Kenya and therefore ineligible to be president, a claim he later admitted was untrue.
The video also revived scrutiny of Trump’s repeated use of racially charged language and imagery, an issue that has followed him throughout his political career and continues to shape debate as the US enters another volatile election cycle.
