A social media post attributed to former President Donald Trump drew widespread criticism after it included an animation that many observers described as racist, depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. The post also repeated previously debunked claims about the 2020 election before the imagery appeared briefly near the end of the video, accompanied by the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
New York Republican Representative Mike Lawler was among the first members of his party to condemn the post. He said he accepted the White House’s explanation that the upload had been a “mistake” made by a staff member but nonetheless called the meme inappropriate and offensive, adding that whoever created it “is an idiot,” according to ABC News.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially dismissed criticism as “fake outrage,” describing the clip as an internet meme portraying Trump as the “king of the jungle” and Democrats as characters from The Lion King. However, the White House later attributed the post to a staff error and removed it roughly 12 hours after it appeared online. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he had only viewed the beginning of the video, which he said focused on voter-fraud allegations, before passing it to staff to post. He stated he would not fire the staffer involved and would not apologize, asserting that he personally had not made a mistake.
Besides Trump, only two aides have access to his social media account, people familiar with the matter said: Dan Scavino and aide Natalie Harp. The move to delete the video marked a rare reversal for Trump, whose instinct has long been to stand by even his most provocative statements – and given that the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, had earlier dismissed criticism of the video.
The incident also drew attention because it occurred during the first week of Black History Month, shortly after a presidential proclamation recognizing the contributions of Black Americans. Trump has a record of intensely personal criticism of the Obamas and of using incendiary, sometimes racist, rhetoric — from feeding the lie that Obama was not a native-born U.S. citizen to crude generalizations about majority-Black countries. An Obama spokesperson later said the former president had no response..
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