former president barack obama gave a public speech donald trumpSharing an AI video of him and him. michelle obama Like a monkey. The response comes nearly three months after the video was widely condemned for using caricatures rooted in racism.
President Barack Obama responds to Donald Trump’s AI video post
Barack Obama told The New Yorker that the former first lady and her children never chose public life and should be banned. “I don’t take it personally,” he said. “I mean, I always get mad when my wife and kids get caught up in things, because they didn’t choose this…This is a line that I expect them to care about, even people who wholeheartedly reject politics. I would never talk about someone’s family like that,” Obama added.
The AI video in question was posted by Donald Trump on Truth Social on February 5th, and has since been deleted. It began by repeating unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about voting machines in the 2020 election, then moved on to show the Obamas’ heads superimposed on the bodies of monkeys dancing to the soundtrack of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” People quickly denounced this as a modern version of a racist trope that has been used for generations to dehumanize black people.
When reporters aboard Air Force One asked Trump a few days later if he would apologize, Trump declined, saying the post was low profile. “I saw it at first, and it was fine,” Trump said. “No one knew that it ended up being what it was. If they had seen it, then maybe they would have had the sense to destroy it,” he added.
President Obama first answered questions about the video in late February on an episode of Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast. He argued that this is part of a pattern in which divisive content drowns out genuine public concerns. “It’s important to recognize that the vast majority of Americans find this behavior deeply problematic,” President Obama said.
All in all, for Barack Obama, the AI video involving him and Michelle is one chapter in a broader normalization of obscenity that he believes voters, not politicians, will ultimately reject.
