'Inexcusable': Trump account posts, deletes 'blatantly racist' depiction of Obamas; U.S. bishops call for White House apology
WASHINGTON (OSV News) -- A video posted on President Donald Trump's Truth Social account that depicted former first couple President Barack and Michelle Obama as apes was deleted after widespread outrage denounced the content as racist.
White House officials at first defended the post and claimed Trump did not post the video, blaming an unnamed staffer. It was posted late at night Feb. 5 and deleted by noon Feb. 6.
Lawmakers and faith leaders — including prominent Black Catholic leaders — were among those who condemned the video and its apparent promotion by the president.
The AI-generated clip, set to music from "The Lion King," depicted prominent Democrats as animals, including an image of the former president and first lady as apes.
Depictions and caricatures of Black people as monkeys or apes have a long history as a trope used by segregationists and white supremacists in an attempt to dehumanize them, civil rights groups and historians have noted.
After the video was posted, prominent Catholics — including Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger, Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, and Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of Austin, Texas, the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation — strongly denounced the post.
"A recent post on Truth Social under President Donald Trump's name used a racist meme to depict former President Obama and his wife, Michelle. It is very disturbing that anyone, much less the President of the United States or his staff members, should see racist memes as humorous or appropriate expressions of political discourse," Archbishop Weisenburger said in a statement posted Feb. 9. "They are deeply offensive and must be condemned in the strongest terms.
"I join my voice to the many calling for a public apology with full acceptance of responsibility, and I also bristle at claims from the White House that the rage many of us feel is 'fake,'" the archbishop continued. "Beyond the necessary apology, I also believe that we all must examine our conscience, individually and collectively. We need to recognize and acknowledge how prevalent racism continues to be in our society and commit ourselves to vigilance in counteracting its harm.
"As Catholics, we believe that every person is made in the image and likeness of God," Archbishop Weisenburger concluded. "This sacred truth compels us to treat every human being with dignity, respect, and love. We must recommit ourselves to vigilance in counteracting the wounds caused by the evil of racism as truly we are called to be one human family."
Likewise, Cardinal Cupich called on the White House to apologize for the racist video, regardless of whether Trump knowingly approved the post or not.
"Portraying human beings as animals — less than human — is not new," Cardinal Cupich said. "It was a common way in past centuries for politicians and others to demean immigrant groups as each arrived, the Chinese, Irish, Italians, Slavs, Jews, Latinos and so on. Cartoons, 'news' articles, even theatrical productions carried the message that these 'others' were worthy of ridicule. It made it easier to turn a blind eye to their privation, pay them pitiful wages and mock their 'foreign' religion even as the country needed their labor. It immunized the national conscience when we turned away shiploads of refugees, lynched thousands and doomed generations to poverty.
"We tell ourselves that those days belong in the past — that even sharing that history is harmful to the fantasy of equality we strive to create," Cardinal Cupich continued. "A few days ago, we saw that in the White House such blatant racism is not merely a practice of the past. If the President intentionally approved the message containing viciously racist images, he should admit it. If he did not know of it originally, he should explain why he let his staff describe the public outcry over their transmission as fake outrage.
"Either way he should apologize," the cardinal said. "Our shock is real. So is our outrage. Nothing less than an unequivocal apology — to the nation and to the persons demeaned — is acceptable. And it must come immediately."
Other Catholic organizations, including the Ancient Order of Hibernians, issued similar statements.
The NAACP also strongly denounced the post, noting the especially egregious timing during Black History Month.
"Trump posting this video — especially during Black History Month — is a stark reminder of how Trump and his followers truly view people. And we'll remember that in November," the NAACP posted on X.
The source of the video appeared to be a MAGA social media meme account. The video also promoted debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
Bishop Garcia, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, said in written comments to OSV News, "I am glad to see that the egregious post has been taken down."
"As my brother bishops and I have said in our pastoral letter against racism: 'Every racist act -- every such comment, every joke, every disparaging look as a reaction to the color of skin, ethnicity, or place of origin -- is a failure to acknowledge another person as a brother or sister, created in the image of God,'" he said.
Gloria Purvis, a special adviser for integral human development and dignity at Providence College in Rhode Island and a senior fellow at Georgetown's Institute for Catholic Social Thought in Public Life in Washington, told OSV News that Catholics should reject such tropes, and the president's apparent promotion of them, "wholeheartedly as the serious moral evil that it is."
"We can in no way, shape or form be silent," she said.
The president, she said, "will never just have a social media posting" due to his power and position.
"He shapes the culture by his behavior," Purvis said. "And this is what, in the most classic sense of the word, he is creating scandal. He's engaging in behavior that is evil and invites people to emulate that behavior."
Grant Jones, executive director of the Knights of Peter Claver Foundation, which serves the historically Black Catholic lay organization, said, "The continual dehumanization of people of color by the president and his administration, such as the Obamas being portrayed as apes, is both inappropriate and disappointing."
"The faithful, especially the Catholic community, many of whom are supporters of the president, should no longer remain silent and speak out in opposition to this ongoing behavior," he told OSV News. "The members of the Knights of Peter, an organization for all Catholics, are praying for the healing of our country during this dark period we are currently experiencing."
The comments sparked bipartisan responses from lawmakers.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said on X, "Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump's disgusting bigotry."
The post was met with notable condemnation from within Trump's party. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the only Black Republican in the Senate, wrote in a post on X accompanied by a screenshot of the video, "Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House."
"The President should remove it," he said.
Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, and Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., were also among the Republican lawmakers who objected to the post.
"Even if this was a Lion King meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this," Ricketts said. "The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake: remove this and apologize."
Curtis said, "The post was blatantly racist and inexcusable. It should never have been posted or left published for so long."
Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, said in a post on X, "I do not feel the need to respond to every inflammatory statement made by the White House. However, the release of racist images of former President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama is offensive, heart breaking, and unacceptable. President Trump should apologize."
But before the post was removed, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to multiple media outlets that the post's negative reception was "fake outrage."
"This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King," she said.
But the post was later removed, as White House officials later pointed to an unnamed staffer as responsible. A small number of Trump's aides have access to his social media account, per multiple reports.
Benjamin Watson, a former NFL tight end and pro-life advocate, said in a post on Facebook that "FIVE hours after the administration promises to 'Rededicate America as One Nation Under God' the President decides to promote one of the most evil and dehumanizing tropes a people group has ever encountered."
Watson was referring to an America 250 event announced by Trump in his comments at the National Prayer Breakfast, which took place earlier the same day as Trump's post.
Pastor Mark Burns, a Protestant spiritual adviser to Trump and his political ally, wrote in a lengthy post on X that he spoke directly with Trump "regarding the offensive Obama ape video that circulated online."
"The President assured me clearly and unequivocally that he did not post it. He understands the painful and racist history in America of depicting African Americans as apes, a tactic long used by white supremacists to demean Black intelligence and humanity. He knows this is wrong, offensive, and unacceptable," he wrote.
"The President made it clear to me that this post was made by a staffer and not by him," he continued. "My recommendation to the President was direct and firm. That staffer should be fired immediately, and the President should publicly condemn this action. This kind of insensitive and racist communication does not reflect the heart, values, or leadership of the President of the United States, nor does it represent the America we are striving to build."
Purvis also called on Trump to apologize to both the Obamas and the nation for the post.
"Nothing less is acceptable," she said.
Russell Moore, editor at large and columnist at Christianity Today and a prominent evangelical theologian, wrote on X that the post was "Racist. Deranged. Humiliating to our country."
"The fact that we have decided to pretend this is normal every day is a moral abomination. Have we any shame?" he said. "And every day an entire generation is being told it is 'Christian' to support this. God have mercy on us."
Purvis said racism is "an old demon twisting a new generation of people."
"Dehumanization is what allowed people to enslave other human beings in chattel slavery without a pang of conscience," she said in reference to the type of enslavement of human beings that once existed in the United States.
"We'll never build a nation that has a culture of life when people in the highest office engage in this kind of dehumanizing behavior," she said.
Detroit Catholic contributed to this report.
