The White House is dismissing backlash over a meme video the president posted on Truth Social late Thursday depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as gorillas.
“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from ‘The Lion King,'” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt statement on President Donald Trump posting a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys:
"This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion…
The roughly one-minute video was mostly focused on claims of vote rigging in the 2020 election but showed AI-generated images of the Obamas while the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” played in the background.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) broke with the White House over the video, saying in a statement on X: “Praying it [the post] was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it.”

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