[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Over the weekend, former President Barack Obama finally addressed the truly disturbing and extremely racist video that was shared earlier this month by President Donald Trump on his social media platform Truth Social.
As we’ve been reporting, the now-deleted clip showed Barack and former First Lady Michelle Obama‘s faces superimposed onto animated apes dancing to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Yes, really.
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The footage appeared at the tail end of a longer video pushing unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election. It was posted on February 5 and quickly sparked outrage across the political spectrum. Many critics called it racist and dehumanizing. The White House would later claim that a staffer “erroneously” made the post and that it was taken down, though no one has publicly been identified or disciplined.
Well, now Barack is speaking out. In an interview Saturday with political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama spoke about the controversy for the first time. He did not mention Trump by name, but his message was clear:
“It’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling. It is true that it gets attention, that it’s a distraction, but as I’m traveling around the country … you meet people [and] they still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness. And there’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television.”
There was no anger in his tone. Just something heavier — a kind of sadness.
The former president then went on to reflect more broadly on what he sees as a breakdown in political norms and basic human respect:
“And what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and the sense of propriety and respect for the office. That’s been lost.”
Lost. That word lingers.
Watch Obama speak about it (below):
As we’ve been reporting, when pressed by reporters about it, Trump refused to apologize for sharing the racist video. He claimed he hadn’t seen the ending and characterized it as a spoof of The Lion King. He insisted he did not make a mistake, suggesting that if anyone had noticed the offensive imagery sooner, “they would have had the sense to take it down.”
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also defended the post, dismissing backlash as “fake outrage” and describing the clip as an internet meme portraying Trump as the “King of the Jungle” and Democrats as characters from the Disney classic.
But for many Americans, this wasn’t harmless meme culture. The history of comparing Black people to apes is long, ugly, and rooted in racism that predates both of these presidencies. And that context matters!
Thankfully, Obama’s response didn’t escalate the drama. He didn’t throw insults. He didn’t even say Trump’s name! Instead, he chose to talk about dignity, decency, and the kind of country he still believes most Americans want to live in. What about U?
To learn more about civil rights issues, check out https://www.splcenter.org/.
[Image via MEGA/WENN]
