US President Donald Trump has drawn widespread criticism after posting a video on social media that depicts former president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as monkeys.
In the early hours of Friday, Trump shared two posts on his Truth Social account reviving allegations of irregularities in the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden. Biden previously served as Obama’s vice-president between 2009 and 2017.
Trump, who defeated Hillary Clinton to win the presidency in 2017, was denied a second term after losing the 2020 election to Biden.
The one-minute video features Phil Waldron, identified as a cybersecurity expert, making claims about alleged “treachery” during the election. Waldron alleged that vote counting stopped simultaneously in five key states, which he claimed used rigged voting software.
“When reporting and counting resumed, a massive spike occurred that favoured Joe Biden,” Waldron said in the clip.
Trump posted the video twice on his platform.
At the end of the footage, Barack and Michelle Obama appear briefly as AI-generated monkeys dancing to ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’, a song popularised in Disney’s The Lion King franchise, notably associated with the characters Timon and Pumbaa.
The post triggered immediate backlash. Gavin Newsom, governor of California, condemned the video in a statement issued by his press office.
“Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now,” the statement read.
The video has since provoked outrage across social media platforms, with many users accusing Trump of promoting racist imagery and rhetoric.
