US President Donald Trump has removed a social media video which included a racist clip depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
The clip - set to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight - was at the end of a 62-second video containing claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Republican Senator Tim Scott - who is black - had 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 told critics to 'stop the fake outrage.'
The clip, which is reminiscent of 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 NY Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Trump's predecessor in the White House, Joe Biden, was also depicted as an ape eating a banana. The Obamas have yet to comment on the video.
While Trump offered no comment in his post, sharing the video sparked a fierce backlash, including criticism from within his own party. Senator Scott expressed hope that the video was fake, urging Trump to remove it. Another Republican, Representative Mike Lawler, called it 'wrong and incredibly offensive,' requesting its deletion along with an apology.
In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the clip as part of an 'internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.' She urged critics to focus on issues that truly matter to the American public.
Later, a White House official stated that the post was made in error and has since been taken down. Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, described the video as 'disgusting and utterly despicable,' accusing Trump of trying to distract from other pressing matters.
Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration, critiqued Trump's history of racism, suggesting that future Americans will study Obama positively while viewing Trump negatively.
Before his presidency, Trump was known for promoting baseless claims about Obama's birthplace, which he later acknowledged was incorrect. This incident similarly reflects Trump's ongoing contentious relationship with the former president.
