President Donald Trump shared a video on his social media platform that quickly drew intense backlash after it depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama in a racially offensive manner.

The short video, which promotes claims that voting machines helped steal the 2020 presidential election, shows the Obamas’ faces superimposed onto apes in a jungle scene. The clip appears for approximately one second near the end of the video, as the opening of the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” plays in the background.

The post immediately prompted criticism from political figures and commentators, who noted the long history of racist tropes comparing Black individuals to monkeys.

In response to the backlash, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the criticism in a statement to CNN, calling it “fake outrage.”

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

The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the video in a post on X, writing: “Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)