'I didn't make a mistake': Trump on Obama video after White House takes it down

US President Donald Trump and the White House took down an AI-generated video showing a racist clip of former US President Barack Obama and ex-First Lady Michelle Obama following major backlash. The video garnered criticism since it portrayed Obama as a primate in a jungle. It was first posted by Trump and then reshared by the White House on Friday, and was soon deleted from both social media handles.

The post was soon blamed on a staffer after widespread backlash, from civil rights leaders to veteran Republican senators, for its treatment of the nation’s first Black president and first lady. In a rare instance, the White House admitted its misstep. However, the deletion came hours after US Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to defend the move.

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She initially dismissed the “fake outrage” over the post, triggering more backlash. The White House eventually blamed it on one of its staffers, insisting that they shared it 'erroneously'. The post was a part of a flurry of overnight activity on Trump’s Truth Social account that amplified his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite courts around the country and Trump’s first-term attorney general finding no evidence of systemic fraud.

What made matters worse is the fact that the post came in the first week of Black History Month and days after a Trump proclamation cited “the contributions of black Americans to our national greatness” and “the American principles of liberty, justice, and equality.” An Obama spokeswoman said the former president, a Democrat, had no response to the matter.

What the video entailed

The 62-second clip appeared to be from a conservative video alleging deliberate tampering with voting machines in battleground states as 2020 votes were tallied. At the 60-second mark is a quick scene of two jungle primates, with the Obamas’ smiling faces imposed on them.

That particular frame originated from a separate video, which was previously circulated by an influential conservative meme maker. It showed Trump as “King of the Jungle” and depicts Democratic leaders as animals, including Joe Biden, who is white, as a jungle primate eating a banana.

“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King,” Leavitt said by text amid the backlash. However, Disney’s 1994 feature film that Leavitt referenced is set on the savannah, not in the jungle, and it does not include great apes. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” Leavitt added.

By noon, the post was taken down from both Trump's and White House's social media platforms. Condemnations flowed from across the spectrum -- along with demands for an apology that had not come by late afternoon.

The US Senate’s lone Black Republican, Tim Scott of South Carolina, called on Trump to take down the post. “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” said Scott, who chairs Senate Republicans’ midterm campaign arm.

Another Republican, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, is white but represents the state with the largest percentage of Black residents. Wicker called the post “totally unacceptable” and said the president should apologise.

With inputs from The Associated Press.