U.S. President Donald Trump has refused to back down over a video shared on his social media account depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as “cartoon monkeys.” Trump stated that no staff member was fired or disciplined over the post.
Despite the backlash over the video published on his social media account portraying former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as “monkey” characters, Trump said he would not apologize and that no personnel had been punished.
When asked by a reporter, “Did you fire or discipline the staff member who posted the video about the Obamas from your account?” Trump responded, “No.”
Trump defended the footage as “a reference to The Lion King.” However, in the shared animation, the Obama couple was depicted as monkey characters, while Trump was shown as a lion. Observers pointed out that there are no monkey characters in the film.
What happened?
The approximately one-minute video, shared late at night on Trump’s Truth Social account, combined a documentary segment containing unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election with the controversial animation. The White House initially defended the post and later blamed an unnamed staff member. The video was removed roughly 12 hours later following criticism from both Democratic and some Republican politicians.
Trump argued that the video had already been circulating online for a long time and claimed it was “not a big deal.” Calling it “a strong election fraud video,” Trump asserted that the animation portion had appeared on various platforms for years.
The post also drew criticism from within the Republican Party. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott described it on the social media platform X as “the most racist content I’ve seen from the White House.” Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts said, “A reasonable person would see its racist context,” and argued that the video should be taken down and an apology issued.
New York Representative Mike Lawler called the video “wrong and deeply offensive.” Despite the backlash, Trump reiterated last week, “I didn’t make a mistake,” signaling that he would not reverse his stance.