President Donald Trump has deleted a controversial video from his Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, sparking widespread condemnation.
The one-minute video, posted late Thursday, promoted conspiracies about the 2020 election. Near the end, the Obamas were shown with monkey bodies for about one second, accompanied by the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
The White House initially dismissed criticism as “fake outrage.” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the images were part of “an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King.”
However, nearly 12 hours later, a White House official told AFP that “a White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.”
The deletion followed rare bipartisan criticism. Democrat House leader Hakeem Jeffries called Trump “vile, unhinged and malignant.” More significantly, Republican Senator Tim Scott, the only Black GOP senator, described the video as “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House” and urged Trump to remove it.
Another Republican senator, Roger Wicker, called the post “totally unacceptable” and demanded an apology.
Trump has a history of targeting the Obamas. He launched his political career by promoting the false “birther” conspiracy questioning Barack Obama’s birthplace. In recent years, he has increasingly used AI-generated content on social media to mock critics and glorify himself. Last year, he posted an AI video showing Obama being arrested.
The incident comes amid ongoing criticism of Trump’s administration for rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. There has been no immediate public comment from the Obamas.
