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.
The imagery, which evokes long-standing racist tropes against Black people, comes during Black History Month, which honors the accomplishments and contributions of Black Americans. Barack Obama made U.S. history as the first Black president.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to NBC News’ request for comment Friday morning with a statement: “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from ‘The Lion King.’ Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
They now say that it was a staffer who put up the video which is almost certainly a lie. Trump is the biggest racist in his administration and has been his entire life. If it was a staffer who did it, he certainly had no reason to believe that Trump wouldn’t have liked it.
Even some Republicans peeked their head up and said a little something:
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the upper chamber, sharply denounced the president on X, writing, “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it.”Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., wrote, “Even if this was a ‘Lion King’ meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this. The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake: remove this and apologize.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who faces a competitive re-election race, also criticized Trump. “The President’s post is wrong and incredibly offensive — whether intentional or a mistake — and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered,” he wrote on X.
No apology forthcoming. They don’t do that.