A White House official claimed that a since-deleted Truth Social post on President Donald Trump‘s account depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes was actually shared by a “staffer” via NBC News.
The video was deleted from Trump’s Truth Social account Friday (February 6) after it sparked outrage online. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended the video as “an internet meme video” and claimed it was a parody of The Lion King.
“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,” Leavitt said via ABC News.
The meme Leavitt referenced was shared by the Hardin County Republican Party of Kentucky in October, which has also since been deleted and resulted in its chairman issuing an apology. Both posts depicting the Obamas, the first and only Black president and first lady in American history, sparked backlash given the history of racist tropes dehumanizing Black people as apes or monkeys, a tactic used by slave traders and segregationists.
“President Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans. They represent the best of this country. Donald Trump is a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black leader of party in Congress, wrote on his X account Friday morning. “Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump’s disgusting bigotry,” Jeffries wrote.
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