Trump Deletes Controversial Video Depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as Chimpanzees

Former U.S. President Donald Trump posted a video on social media portraying Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, accompanied by the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight, before later deleting it.

The 62-second clip, shared on Truth Social, also depicted other Democratic figures, including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Joe Biden, as animals.

The video was interpreted as election-related satire ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential elections.

Trump defended himself, saying he only watched the beginning of the video before it was posted by a White House staff member and claimed he was unaware it included depictions of the Obamas.

“I did nothing wrong,” he told reporters. He added that he liked some of the election-related satire in the clip but said inappropriate content should be removed by staff.

The video drew swift criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. Republican Congressman Tim Scott, who is Black, called it “the worst racist thing I have ever seen come out of the White House” and urged its removal.

Fellow Republican Mike Lawler of New York described it as “terrible and shameful,” while John Curtis of Utah called it “offensive, racist, and unforgivable.”

Civil rights leaders also condemned the video. Derrick Johnson, head of the NAACP, described it as “shameful and absolutely unacceptable” and accused Trump of attempting to distract from issues such as Epstein and wealth inequality.

The White House initially downplayed the video, describing it as harmless social media content.

After the backlash, it was removed from Truth Social, with officials stating a staff member had “mistakenly” posted it publicly.

White House communications officer Karoline Leavitt described it as “an online video portraying President Trump as the Lion King, with Democrats as characters in the movie,” and asked critics to “stop overreacting.”

The controversy adds to Trump’s history of targeting Obama with criticism. Before taking office, Trump repeatedly claimed Obama was born in Kenya rather than Hawaii and thus ineligible to be president, a claim he later retracted.

The Obamas have not commented on the video. Several Democratic leaders, including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and California Governor Gavin Newsom, condemned it as racist.

Former Obama aide Ben Rhodes warned that the video could influence how future Americans perceive the Obamas versus Trump’s supporters.