FAST FACTS:
- Barack Obama called Trump’s racist video “deeply troubling” in an interview released Feb. 14, 2026
- The video was shared on Trump’s Truth Social account on Feb. 5, 2026
- It depicted Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces on animated apes dancing to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
- Trump refused to apologize on Feb. 6, claiming he didn’t see the racist imagery
- The White House blamed an unidentified staffer who has not been disciplined
- Obama criticized the loss of “decorum and respect for the office” in political discourse
- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called criticism “fake outrage”
- The incident has sparked discussions about racism and presidential accountability
More than a week after President Donald Trump, 79, shared a racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, the former president has finally addressed the incident directly. In a measured but pointed interview with Brian Tyler Cohen released Saturday, Obama, 64, called the imagery “deeply troubling” and criticized the broader erosion of political decency.
The controversial video appeared on Trump’s Truth Social account on Feb. 5. The racist depiction showed the Obamas’ faces superimposed on two animated apes dancing to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” The imagery was embedded at the end of a longer video making unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.
When questioned by a journalist on Feb. 6, Trump refused to apologize. “No, I didn’t make a mistake,” he said, claiming he only watched the beginning of the video. “I guess it was a take off on The Lion King and certainly it was a very strong post in terms of voter fraud,” Trump added. “Nobody knew that that was in the end.”
The White House initially issued a statement through press secretary Karoline Leavitt defending the post as “an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.” The statement urged critics to “stop the fake outrage.”
Later, the White House shifted its explanation, claiming that “a White House staffer erroneously made the post” before it was deleted. The staffer has not been identified publicly. On Feb. 12, when a reporter asked Trump if the person responsible had been “fired or disciplined,” Trump responded simply, “No, I haven’t.”
In his interview, Obama did not mention Trump by name when discussing the video. Instead, he spoke broadly about political discourse. “It’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,” Obama said. “There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television.”
Obama went on to criticize what he sees as a breakdown in political norms. “There doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and the sense of propriety and respect for the office,” he said. “That’s been lost.”
The interview also covered other topics, including Obama’s concerns about ICE operations in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, which he described as “deeply concerning and dangerous.” He praised community organizing efforts in response to what he called “rogue behavior of agents of the federal government.”
What to watch next:
- Congressional and public reactions to Obama’s first extended comments on the incident
- Whether pressure mounts for Trump to identify or discipline the staffer
- Ongoing debates about racism, presidential conduct, and social media accountability
Sources: PEOPLE (Escher Walcott, published Feb. 15, 2026); Brian Tyler Cohen interview (YouTube, released Feb. 14, 2026)
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