Trump deletes video of Obama – accused of racism

Albin Almqvist, 

Oskar Forsberg

Updated 20.03 | Published 18.22

Donald Trump posted a racist video.

Then he deleted it.

And blamed an employee.

US President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated video of Barack and Michelle Obama on Friday, depicting the former presidential couple as monkeys. 

The video quickly received criticism for being racist.

Something the White House first called “fake outrage.”

– This comes from a meme video that portrays President Trump as the King of the Jungle and the Democrats as characters from the movie “The Lion King.” Stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually means something to the American people, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News when asked about the film.

But the clip was later taken down from Trump's social media channels.

A White House source told CNBC that an aide posted the video by mistake, and that it was therefore taken down.

 

Trump deleted the AI-generated video, claiming that it was posted by mistake.

Republicans also criticized

The post drew heavy criticism on social media from both sides of the political spectrum, including several Republican lawmakers who rarely criticize the president publicly.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only black Republican in the Senate, sharply condemned the president on X, writing:

"I hope it was fake, because this is the most racist thing I've seen come out of this White House. The president should take it down."

Senator Pete Ricketts, Republican of Nebraska, wrote:

“Even if this were a ‘Lion King’ meme, a reasonable person would see the racist context in this. The White House should do what it does when it makes a mistake: delete the post and apologize.”

NBC News reports.

“Little Jealous Man”

Representative Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, who is up for re-election, also criticized Trump:

“The president’s post is wrong and deeply offensive — whether intentional or a mistake — and should be immediately deleted with an apology,” he wrote on X.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, called Trump’s post “racist, disgusting, and repugnant” in a post on X, adding:

“This is dangerous and demeaning to our country — where are the Senate Republicans? The president must immediately delete the post and apologize to Barack and Michelle Obama, two great Americans who make Donald Trump look like a little, jealous man.”