Trump Removes Video with Racist Depiction of the Obamas
US President Donald Trump has removed a social media video that included a racist clip portraying Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
The clip, set to the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," appeared at the end of a 62-second video Trump shared containing claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump stated:
"I didn't make a mistake".
He added that he had only seen the beginning of the video before it was posted by a staff member and was unaware it contained that depiction of the Obamas.
Reactions from Republican Senators and White House Response
Republican Senator Tim Scott, who is Black, called for the president to remove the post, describing it as:
"the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House".
The White House initially defended the clip as an "internet meme video" and urged critics to "stop the fake outrage." However, following intense backlash, including from several Republican senators, the post was removed from Trump's Truth Social account. A White House official stated that a staffer had "erroneously" made the post.
Origin and Content of the Clip
The clip, which recalls racist caricatures comparing Black people to monkeys, appears to be taken from an X post shared by conservative meme creator Xerias in October.
That video also depicts several other high-profile Democrats as animals, including New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, is also depicted as an ape eating a banana.
The Obamas have not yet commented on the video.
Trump's Comments on the Video and Voter Fraud Claims
The video was one of dozens posted to Trump's Truth Social account overnight.
While aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump said:
"I look at a lot of thousands of things."
He added that after watching only part of the video, he "gave it to the people who generally, they look at the whole thing."
Trump stated he liked the video's message on voter fraud but acknowledged that if his staff had reviewed the entire video, "probably they would have had the sense to take it down."
He further commented:
"We took it down as soon as we found out about it."
Criticism Within the Republican Party
Some criticism came from within Trump's own party.
Senator Scott, a South Carolina Republican and an ally of Trump, posted that he was:
"praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House".
He added:
"The President should remove it."
Another Republican, New York Representative Mike Lawler, called the post "wrong and incredibly offensive - whether intentional or a mistake" and said it "should be deleted immediately with an apology offered."
The criticism continued even after the post was taken down.
John Curtis, a Republican Senator from Utah, posted on social media that the video was:
"blatantly racist and inexcusable".
He added:
"It should never have been posted or left published for so long."
Additional Republican Reactions and White House Clarifications
According to CBS, the BBC's US partner, Florida Representative Byron Donalds—a longtime supporter of Trump who is running for governor—called the White House after the video was posted and was told that it was the work of a staffer who "let the president down."
The BBC has contacted the White House for clarification on how many people have access to the president's account and what the approval process is for posts.
In a statement sent to the BBC earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the clip is from "an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King."
She added:
"Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."
Responses from Civil Rights Groups and Political Figures
Before it was removed, Derrick Johnson, the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), called the video "disgusting and utterly despicable" and accused Trump of attempting to distract the public from the Epstein case and a "rapidly failing economy."
Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser for strategic communications in the Obama White House, 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."
In a short post, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker stated that:
"Donald Trump is a racist".
The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X:
"Disgusting behaviour by the president. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who previously accused Trump of racism last year after he shared an AI-generated image depicting Jeffries with a moustache and sombrero, responded to the recent video by calling Trump a:
"vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder".
He added:
"Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump's disgusting bigotry."
Context of the Video and Trump's History with Obama
The clip of the Obamas was appended to the end of a minute-long video that included claims about a voting conspiracy in Michigan during the 2020 presidential election. Those claims were debunked as part of Dominion Voting System's successful civil legal actions against some media companies.
Trump also has a long history of criticizing and attacking Obama.
Before his first term as president, Trump regularly made false claims that the Hawaii-born Obama was actually born in Kenya and therefore ineligible to be president. He later acknowledged that Obama was born in the US.
