- President Trump deletes a video he posted on Truth Social showing the Obamas as monkeys
- NAACP, governors, and Democratic leaders criticised the post
- The White House claims the clip was a staffer’s error and an "internet meme”
The United States President, Donald Trump, has deleted a social media video that included a racist clip portraying former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The clip, set to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight, appeared at the end of a 62-second video in which Trump made claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Republican Senator Tim Scott, a Black lawmaker from South Carolina, called for the video’s removal, describing it as "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House."
Initially, the White House defended the clip as an "internet meme video" and told critics to "stop the fake outrage." But after mounting backlash, including from Republican senators, the post was removed from Trump’s Truth Social account. A White House official said a staffer had "erroneously" made the post.
The video, apparently taken from an X post shared by conservative meme creator Xerias in October, also depicts other high-profile Democrats as animals. Among them are New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Even former President Joe Biden appears as an ape eating a banana.
The Obamas have not publicly commented on the clip.
While Trump offered no statement, the video sparked immediate criticism, including from his own party.
Senator Scott said 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."
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."
Utah Senator John Curtis called the video "blatantly racist and inexcusable," adding: "It should never have been posted or left published for so long."
Florida Representative Byron Donalds, a Trump supporter running for governor, reportedly called the White House after the video was posted and was told it was the work of a staffer who "let the president down."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the BBC: "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. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."
Before the video was removed, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President, Derrick Johnson, called it "disgusting and utterly despicable," accusing Trump of trying to distract from the Epstein case and a "rapidly failing economy."
Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser under Obama, 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."
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker commented: "Donald Trump is a racist." The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom added: "Disgusting behaviour by the president. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who previously accused Trump of racism after an AI image incident, called him a "vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder." He added: "Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump's disgusting bigotry."
The clip of the Obamas appeared at the end of a video alleging a voting conspiracy in Michigan during the 2020 election. Those claims were debunked during Dominion Voting System’s successful civil legal actions against some media companies.
Trump also has a long history of criticising Obama. Before his presidency, he repeatedly claimed, falsely, that Obama was born in Kenya and therefore ineligible to be president. He later acknowledged that Obama was born in the US.