Trump Removes Video Depicting Obamas as Apes After Bipartisan Backlash

President Donald Trump removed a video from his Truth Social account after it sparked outrage for depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.

The Details: The clip stayed online for nearly 12 hours before being taken down, according to several news outlets. The White House later said a staffer was responsible for the social media post. It has sparked criticism from Democrats and Republicans, some of whom called the video racist and demanded an apology from the White House.

Key Quotes: Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called on the president to delete the video earlier Friday. "The President's post is wrong and incredibly offensive — whether intentional or a mistake — and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered," Lawler wrote on X. "Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House," Scott said on X. "The President should remove it." "This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."

For Context: Scott is the only black Republican in the Senate. He and several GOP lawmakers with ties to the White House criticized the video. The clip also promoted false claims about the 2020 election, and its release appeared to push the White House into crisis‑management mode. Advisers told lawmakers and reporters that Trump wasn't aware of the post and was "very let down" by the staffer who shared it.

How The Media Covered It: Coverage of the video's backlash was consistent across the political spectrum. However, CNN (Lean Left bias) framed the post as offensive from the start, saying Trump "shared a racist video" in the lead paragraph. Washington Examiner (Lean right) included quotes from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle calling the video racist. Both news outlets included Leavitt's response.

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