US EditionWhite House Removes Trump Post Depicting Obamas as Monkeys, Says It Was Posted in Error
The video was removed after bipartisan backlash including from GOP Sen. Tim Scott, marking a rare White House admission of error following a post promoting unfounded election fraud claims.
- On Friday, President Donald Trump posted and deleted a Truth Social video depicting former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as monkeys, uploaded at 11:44 p.m. on Thursday.
- The White House has a pattern of reposting memes and AI visuals, and aides initially defended the post as `a meme depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King` and urged `Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public`.
- Uploaded at 11:44 p.m. ET on Thursday, the roughly 62-second clip repeats false Dominion claims and at around 58 seconds shows Obamas with faces on ape bodies from conservative meme creator Xerias.
- Under growing pressure, the White House said a staffer erroneously made the post and it was taken down, after bipartisan calls for removal, including from Sen. Tim Scott, Republican.
- Beyond the immediate fallout, the episode fits a pattern of the president using hyper-realistic AI and meme content to lampoon critics, including prior AI videos targeting Obama, during Black History Month.
371 Articles
371 Articles
Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting the Obamas as monkeys on Friday. The post drew strong criticism and was accused of being racist. Hours after it was uploaded, the clip was taken down by the White House – after initially defending it as a joke.
Trump's racist post about Obamas deleted after backlash despite White House earlier defending it
President Donald Trump’s racist social media post featuring former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as primates in a jungle was deleted after a backlash from…
Sen. Pete Ricketts calls on Trump to apologize for social post depicting Obamas as apes
Sen. Pete Ricketts was among the Republican officials Friday who called on President Donald Trump to apologize for a Trump social media post depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
Donald Trump’s racist social media post depicting Obamas as apes is deleted after backlash
Donald Trump’s social media post featuring a video about election conspiracy theories and a racist depiction of former president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as primates in a jungle has been deleted.
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