US President Donald Trump has sparked outrage after sharing video footage on social media seeking to portray former US President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, the imagery is widely recognised as racist and used in the past to dehumanise people of African descent.
The clip of Trump in the video, which lasted about a minute and was posted late Thursday, pushed Trump’s false claims that his 2020 election loss was due to widespread voter fraud.
Embedded in the video was an apparently AI-generated video of dancing primates with the faces of the Obamas superimposed onto them.
Swift Political Backlash
The post instantly drew outcries from political leaders of the entire political spectrum. Some of the most notable responses came from Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, a Black lawmaker and Trump ally.
“Praying it was fake because it is the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Scott wrote on X, urging the president to remove the post.
Ben Rhodes, a former Obama aide, also blasted the video on Wednesday saying history would be harsh on Trump but remembers the Obamas as upstanding public figures.
White House Response
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt denied the backlash as “fake outrage.” She alleged the video was based on an Internet meme that portrayed Trump as the “King of the Jungle” with Democrats as characters of The Lion King.
The clip reportedly had a song from the musical.
A spokesman for the Obamas declined to comment on the matter.
A Pattern of Controversy
Trump has been repeatedly criticised for rhetoric generally described as racist. He used to spread the false birther conspiracy theory of Obama’s citizenship. In December, he called Somalis “garbage,” earning condemnation.
He was also criticised for sharing an edited image of House Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries with exaggerated features.
Civil rights advocates argue that such a rhetoric has gained an increased normalisedness in American political discourse, and creates awareness of its larger social and democratic effect.
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