May 8, 2026
The former president said Trump’s attack on his wife and children in a racially charged AI-generated content crossed a line of common decency and respect
Barack Obama Responds To Donald Trump’s Racist Video
Former President Barack Obama recently condemned the infamous AI-generated video that President Donald Trump shared earlier this year, portraying him and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, as apes.
In an interview published by The New Yorker in May, Obama said he does not take Trump’s personal insults to heart but drew a clear boundary when it comes to attacks involving his family.
“I don’t take it personally,” Obama said. “I’m always offended when my wife and kids get dragged into things, because they didn’t choose this. That’s a line that even people whose politics I deeply reject, I would expect them to care about.”
The controversy stems from a post Trump shared on Truth Social on Feb. 5 featuring an AI-generated video promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. The video later cuts to edited footage of the Obamas’ heads placed on the bodies of dancing apes, with “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” playing in the background. The post was later deleted from Trump’s account following widespread backlash.
Civil rights advocates and political commentators criticized the clip for invoking racist imagery historically used to demean Black people. When asked aboard Air Force One whether he planned to apologize for sharing the video, Trump declined, saying posting it was not “a mistake.”
Obama Believes The Use Of AI On Social Media Is Unserious
During his interview with The New Yorker, Obama also expressed concern over the normalization of AI-generated political content that trivializes violence and public discourse.
“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television,” Obama said, adding that Americans are losing “decorum,” “propriety,” and “respect for the office.”
The former president previously addressed the video publicly during a February interview with progressive podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, in which he emphasized that many Americans still value “decency, courtesy, and kindness.”
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