US President Donald Trump shared an AI‑generated video on his social media platform that portrayed former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
Trump shared the video on Truth Social late nigh on Thursday, February 5 that centers on his claim of fraud in the 2020 elections.
The video ends with an AI-generated clips showing the former president and his faces on apes' bodies, accompanied by the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens.
The post, which echoed a long-standing racist trope of comparing Black people to monkeys sparked immediate backlash and drew widespread condemnation across the political spectrum.
GOP Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, called the post racist, adding that, “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it,” as per CNN.
While, the office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the video in a post on X, writing, “Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the image came from a social media meme.
She added, “This 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.”
This isn't the first time the president has shared controversial content involving the former president as last year, he posted an apparent AI video showing Obama being arrested in the Oval Office.
