THE AMERICAN POSEIDON ADVENTURE

Gee that ‘fake news’ Trump always complains about that says he is a racist is so insulting. He must really be feeling badly????

Trump Deletes Racist Video of Obamas After Outcry

The White House press secretary had dismissed criticism of the clip’s racist content as “fake outrage.” But later Friday, the clip disappeared from the president’s social media feed.

By Erica L. Green and Isabella Kwai

Feb. 6, 2026Updated 12:49 p.m. ET

President Trump posted a blatantly racist video clip portraying former President Barack Obama and the former first lady Michelle Obama as apes, then deleted it after an outcry, including from members of his own party. 

The clip, set to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” was spliced near the end of a 62-second video that promoted conspiracy theories about anomalies in the 2020 presidential election. It was the latest in a long pattern by Mr. Trump of promoting offensive imagery and slurs about Black Americans and others.

The decision to delete the link from his social media site was an unusual walk-back by the president, whose own press secretary just hours earlier had brushed off criticism of the video.

“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, before Mr. Trump deleted the clip. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”

The depiction of Mr. and Mrs. Obama as apes perpetuates a racist trope, used historically by slave traders and segregationists to dehumanize Black people and justify lynchings. 

Mr. Trump has a history of making degrading remarks about people of color, women and immigrants, and he has for years taken aim at the Obamas in particular. Across Mr. Trump’s administration, racist images and slogans have become common on official sites. The White House, Labor Department and Homeland Security Department have all promoted social media posts that echo white supremacist messaging. 

The video, which Mr. Trump shared in a late-night posting spree, drew widespread condemnation, including from the president’s own party. 

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina — the Senate’s only Black Republican and a close ally of Mr. Trump’s — wrote on X that he hoped the post was fake “because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it.”

Mr. Scott is the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party’s campaign arm in charge of holding the Senate, a key role ahead of the midterms in November. 

Representative Mike Lawler, Republican of New York, said the president’s post “is wrong and incredibly offensive.” He said the video “should be deleted immediately with an apology offered.”

Mr. Trump’s attacks on Mr. Obama go back years. Mr. Trump amplified the false “birther” conspiracy theory that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States, but in Kenya, and was therefore an illegitimate president.