A racially offensive video shared on President Trump’s Truth Social account — depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama using racist imagery — was removed on Friday after drawing swift backlash.
The clip, which relied on a long-standing racist trope aimed at the nation’s first Black president and first lady, surfaced during the opening days of Black History Month. A White House official said the post was uploaded in error by a staff member.
Behind the scenes, the video caused turmoil inside the administration. According to a source familiar with internal discussions, aides initially moved to defend the post publicly while simultaneously fielding urgent calls from Republican lawmakers urging the president to take it down. Although the White House issued a statement earlier Friday downplaying the controversy, it later declined to explain why the post disappeared from Trump’s account, even though several hours passed between the defense and its removal.
The brief clip appeared at the end of a screen-recorded video promoting election conspiracy theories. Trump’s account posted it late Thursday night, and it remained visible for roughly half a day before being deleted.
The footage was part of a longer, AI-generated parody video created by a pro-Trump meme account. The full version included exaggerated depictions of multiple Democratic figures, including President Biden, Vice President Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Neither the Obama Foundation nor the Obamas themselves publicly responded to the post. However, Democratic lawmakers and civil rights groups condemned it sharply. NAACP President Derrick Johnson called the video “openly racist” and “deeply offensive.”
Before the post was removed, the White House dismissed criticism as overblown, characterizing the clip as part of a meme portraying Trump as a dominant figure and Democrats as cartoon characters. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to say whether the president would apologize or remove it.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) broke with the administration, calling the video the most racist thing he had seen from the White House and publicly urging its removal after failing to reach Trump privately.
The imagery revived painful historical associations, as caricatures likening Black people to animals have long been used to justify discrimination and violence. The episode also fit into a broader pattern of Trump promoting conspiracies and making inflammatory remarks about political opponents, particularly former President Obama.