‘Indefensible’: Black Trump allies grapple with fallout from racist video of Obamas

Several Black conservatives with ties to President Donald Trump’s administration issued rare public rebukes after a video shared on the president’s social media platform late Thursday night included a racist animation depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama with the bodies of apes.

The video was later deleted, and the White House said it had been posted in error by a staffer. NAACP National President Derrick Johnson said in a statement Friday that the video was “blatantly racist, disgusting, and utterly despicable.”

But the episode, which unfolded during Black History Month, exposed fault lines within Trump-aligned Black conservatism. Some expressed deep disappointment that the video was shared at all, while others defended the president and framed the controversy as an unfortunate but human error.

Among the critics was the Black Conservative Federation, a Trump-aligned group that has maintained close ties to the president and issued a rare critical statement.

“Depicting Black public figures in a dehumanizing manner, particularly imagery historically used to demean Black Americans, is unacceptable, offensive, and indefensible,” the group said in a statement, before also expressing its continued backing for Trump’s policies.

Trump told reporters he didn’t see the entire video before it was shared on his social media platform late Thursday night and suggested he wouldn’t apologize for it.

“I guess during the end of it, there was some kind of picture people don’t like. I wouldn’t like it either, but I didn’t see it,” Trump said. “I just, I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud.”

At the end of the video, the Obamas’ faces appear abruptly on the bodies of apes without explanation with the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” playing over it, before the clip ends back on imagery tied to election conspiracy video footage.

The video was shared on the president’s account at 11:44 p.m. ET Thursday, and the White House said around noon Friday that it had been taken down.

Asked if he would apologize, Trump said, “No, I didn’t make a mistake. I mean, I look at a lot of, thousands of, things, and I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine.”

Asked if he condemned the racist portion of the video, Trump said, “Of course I do.”

The Obamas declined to comment when ABC News reached out to their representatives. The White House did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially dismissed the backlash, saying early Friday that the clip came from “an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” and urged reporters to “stop the fake outrage.”

Later Friday afternoon, a White House official told ABC News that a “staffer erroneously made the post.”

Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina, the longest-serving Black senator in U.S. history and one of the most prominent Black conservatives in Washington, publicly criticized the post.

“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Scott wrote on X. “The President should remove it.”

Trump later told reporters he spoke with Scott by phone. During the call, Trump said he told Scott the video had been posted by a staffer by mistake and would be taken down, according to a source familiar with the conversation. The post was later removed.

The Black Conservative Federation said in its statement, “This content reflects a serious lapse in judgment by a staffer responsible for digital posting and should never have been created, approved, or shared.”

The group added, “It is precisely this kind of careless and lazy behavior that undermines credibility, distracts from substantive policy progress, and damages trust with Black Americans who expect better from those entrusted with public platforms.”

While condemning the post, the group sought to separate the incident from Trump’s policy agenda and accomplishments from his first term. They cited examples such as the White House’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) investment, the Opportunity Zones tax incentives for distressed communities, the First Step Act criminal justice reform, and affordability initiatives as tangible benefits for Black communities under Trump.

Diante Johnson, the group’s founder and president, served on the Trump campaign’s Black Voices for Trump advisory board during the 2020 election. Trump headlined the group’s gala in February 2024.

Other Trump-aligned Black conservatives defended the president more forcefully.

CJ Pearson, a prominent Black conservative influencer who previously worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign, said the post appeared to be a mistake.

“This particular clip was obviously posted in error and I’m glad to see that it has since been deleted,” Pearson told ABC News. He added that the video did not change his view of Trump’s record with Black voters.

“There is not a racist bone in President Trump’s body and an accidentally posted video clip does not diminish the fact that this President has done more for the Black community than any other President in American history,” he added.

Florida Republican Representative Byron Donalds’ team called the White House Friday about the post, an official with his gubernatorial campaign confirmed to ABC News.

“Team Byron Donalds called the White House and learned that a staffer had let POTUS down,” the campaign official said in a statement.

Pierre Wilson, a senior Turning Point USA leader and founder of TPUSA RISE, said he would not have shared the video but believes the backlash has been overstated.

“I wouldn’t have shared the video myself, but I also think the reaction to it is wildly overblown,” Wilson said. “I know President Trump personally. He’s not a racist. He’s a man with a blunt sense of humor and an equal opportunity approach when it comes to satire and criticism.”

For many Trump-aligned Black conservatives, the episode underscored the complexity of supporting a president they credit with policy progress, while navigating moments that reignite racial tensions and raise questions about representation, messaging, and trust—especially during Black History Month.

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*ABC News contributors: Justin Gomez, Isabella Murray, Hannah Demissie, Michelle Stoddart, Sarah Kolinovsky, and Nicholas Kerr.*
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/indefensible-black-trump-allies-grapple-fallout-racist-video/story?id=129940924

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