President Barack Obama has responded to an AI video shared by President Donald Trump on Truth Social that depicts him and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.
In a Saturday interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, the host cited a viral video posted on February 5th and later deleted on February 6th in which he noted that the “discourse” surrounding the current administration has “evolved to a level of brutality we’ve never seen before.”
“First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that the vast majority of Americans find this behavior very problematic,” Obama said. “It’s true that it attracts attention. It’s true that it’s distracting. But as I travel around the country, as you travel around the country, you meet people who still believe in civility, civility and kindness.”
The video, posted to President Trump’s Truth Social account and later deleted, touched on false allegations of election fraud surrounding the 2020 presidential election and ended with an animation that compared the Obamas to monkeys. The following characters appeared in the clip of lion king People dance to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” but there are no monkeys in the Disney story.
By way of background, last Friday, a White House official said: hollywood reporter“Posted by mistake by a White House staff member. It has been deleted.”
The former president also addressed the Trump administration’s unique social media strategy, which has drawn criticism in the past. He added: “There’s this kind of clown show going on on social media and on TV. And the truth is, there doesn’t seem to be any shame in this among people who used to feel like they had to have some kind of decorum and civility and respect for the office. Right? That’s been lost.”
The AI video was removed from President Trump’s official social media pages, but it sparked widespread backlash. California Governor Gavin Newsom denounced the post as “a disgusting act by the President,” and Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina posted online: “I hope it’s fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen in this White House. The President should remove this post.”
