US President Donald Trump has deleted a controversial video from his Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, following widespread criticism.
Gatekeepers News reports that the video, which Trump posted twice early Friday, was shared alongside claims of “anomalies” in the 2020 presidential election that he lost to Joe Biden.
In the clip, Barack and Michelle Obama appear only at the end as AI-generated monkey figures dancing to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” a song popularised by Disney’s The Lion King. The rest of the video portrays Trump as the “King of the Jungle” while Democrats are represented by characters from the animated film.
Checks by TheCable confirmed that the video has since been removed from Trump’s Truth Social account.
The post drew sharp backlash, including from members of Trump’s own Republican Party, who described it as “unacceptable” and “racist” and called on the president to take it down and apologise.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended the video, insisting it was taken from an online meme.
“It was an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King,” she said.
Leavitt also dismissed the criticism, adding:
“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
However, a White House official later told NBC News that a “staffer erroneously made the post.”
The video was removed shortly before noon on Friday.
