The White House is under fire for a video that showcases racist imagery of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama uploaded to President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account. The administration initially defended the resulting backlash as “fake outrage,” but then receded from the conversation, saying the post came from a staffer making a mistake.
The Controversy Unfolds
On the night of February 5, 2026, a one-minute clip appeared on President Trump’s go-to social media platform. The video, which largely centered on 2020 election conspiracy theories, ended with a two-second segment employing AI-generated imagery to overlay the faces of the Obamas on dancing monkeys. In the video, which also presented Trump as a lion and other Democratic leaders as various animals, the beat was the tune of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
A video posted on President Trump’s Truth Social account portrays former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. pic.twitter.com/B6TLnB2Vqm
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 6, 2026
The White House Response
Initially, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the post, describing its use of internet memes and accusing the group of creating controversy. “This is from an internet meme video featuring President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” Leavitt wrote. “Stop the fake outrage and report something today that actually matters to the American people.”
But with condemnation from on both sides of the aisle, including among the widely visible Republicans like Senator Tim Scott, who described it as “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” the tone changed. The post was removed by midday on February 6. The post was “erroneously” made by a staffer, a White House official later explained, and had not shown the President’s own behavior.
Bipartisan Backlash
The incident has been widely berated across the political spectrum:
- Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C): Called for the post to be removed and said he was “praying it was fake.”
- Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.): He described the pictures as "vile" and "disgusting bigotry."
- NAACP: Released a statement saying the video was “utterly despicable,” and a “blatant” act of racism.
Some criticized since it happened in just the opening week of Black History Month, making the current polarized political landscape more volatile. Though the White House says the President wasn’t personally responsible for the upload, its aftermath has sparked renewed controversy over how official communications can be vetted and the use of inflammatory AI-created material in political conversation.
