In early February 2026, a flashpoint erupted in U.S. political discourse that captured national attention and ignited fierce debate across party lines.
A video posted on President Donald Trump’s official Truth Social account included a short segment in which Barack Obama and Michelle Obama appeared with their faces superimposed onto the animated bodies of apes.
Although the full video primarily focused on disputed claims about the 2020 U.S. presidential election, this brief depiction revived one of the most harmful racist tropes in American history — comparing Black individuals to primates.
The video remained on Trump’s account for approximately 12 hours before it was taken down by the White House amid widespread criticism. The episode laid bare not only the deep partisan divides in contemporary US politics, but also ongoing tensions around race, social media, and presidential conduct.
A Controversial Post and Immediate Backlash
The incident began late in the evening of February 5, when a video was published via President Trump’s Truth Social profile — a platform the president often uses to communicate directly with his supporters.
The video, roughly one minute in length, mixed claims about “voter fraud” in the 2020 election with various clips and imagery.
Toward the end, it contained a moment in which the Obamas’ faces were shown on cartoon ape bodies while a version of the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” played in the background.
Within hours, reactions poured in from journalists, advocacy groups, public officials, and citizens alike. What many observers saw as a joke was widely interpreted as invoking a historically racist trope — one that had been used for generations to dehumanize Black people. Prominent figures on both sides of the political aisle condemned the post.
One of the most striking responses came from Republican Senator Tim Scott, who publicly denounced the depiction and called for its removal, describing it as “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.”
Scott’s criticism marked a rare moment in which a leading Republican lawmaker rebuked the president’s conduct on grounds of racial sensitivity. Even outside official government circles, political leaders expressed outrage. California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the imagery as a “racist trope” and urged members of both parties to repudiate the post, saying it was “disgraceful” and contrary to American values.
Despite mounting criticism, the White House initially sought to deflect outrage. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the reaction as “fake outrage,” framing the video as an offshoot of an “internet meme depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle.”
She told entertainment outlet TMZ that critics should “report on something that actually matters to the American public.”
As the backlash intensified, White House aides eventually removed the video and attributed its presence to an unnamed staff member, asserting it was posted in error.
However, President Trump himself refused to apologize, insisting that he had not made a mistake and suggesting that the offensive clip was only a brief portion of a longer video about election issues.
Barack Obama Breaks His Silence
For several days after the video was taken down, neither Obama nor members of his family made an immediate public response.
That changed on February 14, when Obama spoke at length in an interview with political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen — remarks that were widely shared and reported.
In his comments, Obama did not focus solely on the video’s content but used the moment to speak more broadly about the state of American political discourse.
