US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would not apologise after a racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes was deleted from his Truth Social account following widespread backlash.
Trump denies wrongdoing after video removal
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he had not made a mistake. He claimed he had not seen the racist portion of the video and had only watched the beginning before a staff member posted it. Trump said he liked the video’s message about voter fraud and suggested that if his staff had watched it fully, they “probably would have had the sense to take it down.” He added that the post was removed as soon as they became aware of the offensive content.
A familiar defence and a familiar claim
The video was among a series of overnight posts from Trump’s account amplifying his false claim that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen from him. This claim has been repeatedly rejected by courts across the United States and by Trump’s own attorney general during his first term, who found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
The clip appears to have originated from a post shared on X in October by conservative meme creator Xerias. In addition to the Obamas, the video also portrayed several Democrats as animals, including New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Joe Biden.
Backlash cuts across party lines
Criticism continued even after the post was deleted. Republican Senator Tim Scott, a Trump ally, called the video “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House” and said he was praying it was fake. New York Representative Mike Lawler described the post as “wrong and incredibly offensive,” whether intentional or accidental, and said it should have been taken down with an apology.
Utah Senator John Curtis said the video was “blatantly racist and inexcusable” and should never have been posted or allowed to remain online for as long as it did. According to CBS, Florida Representative Byron Donalds, a longtime Trump supporter and gubernatorial candidate, contacted the White House and was told the post was shared by a staffer who had “let the president down.”
Civil rights groups react, White House questioned
Civil rights organisations also condemned the post. NAACP president Derrick Johnson called the video “disgusting and utterly despicable,” accusing Trump of using it to distract from the Epstein case and what he described as a rapidly failing economy.
The BBC has sought clarification from the White House on how many people have access to the president’s social media account and what approval process is in place. An Obama spokeswoman said the former president had no response, and the Obamas have not commented publicly on the video.
Timing that deepens the damage
The controversy comes during the first week of Black History Month, just days after Trump issued a proclamation praising the contributions of Black Americans and highlighting principles of liberty, justice and equality. The contrast between that message and the video has added to criticism of the president.
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Trump has a long history of attacking the Obamas personally and has previously promoted inflammatory and false claims, including the assertion that Obama was not born in the United States — a claim he later admitted was untrue.
