President Donald Trump on Friday removed a racist video he posted to social media late Thursday night that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes, but said he won’t apologize for posting it.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
The roughly minute-long video focused on false election fraud claims about the 2020 presidential election, but at the end it suddenly flashed to a clip of the Obamas’ faces superimposed on the heads of cartoon apes as the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by The Tokens played in the background.
Speaking to reporters Friday night, Trump said “of course” he condemns the racist parts of the video, while noting he has no plans to apologize.
“No, I didn’t make a mistake,” he said on Air Force One, adding that he didn't see the full video. “I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine.”
While the White House initially defended the video, it was met with swift backlash — including from Republicans, who said it was “unacceptable” and “racist” and asked Trump to take it down and apologize. It was removed shortly before noon on Friday.
“A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down,” a White House official told NBC News.
Asked if he was going to fire the staffer, Trump on Friday night did not directly answer.
"I gave it to the people. Generally, they'd look at the whole thing. But I guess somebody didn’t, and they posted and we...
Mothin Ali fears for his life after anti-war protest was wrongly described as being in support of Iranian regime The deputy leader of the Green party has demanded an apology from Keir Starmer afte...