White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to defend a racist video that President Donald Trump shared online depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
In a frenzied posting spree overnight, Trump shared a clip about conspiracy theories regarding so-called rigged elections. The video ends showing the Obamas with their heads superimposed onto the bodies of animated apes.
The 60-second clip depicts the Obamas dancing in a jungle setting to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” while Trump is shown as a lion.
The video, which the Daily Beast has chosen not to publish, was widely condemned, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom calling it “disgusting.”
“Every single Republican must denounce this. Now,” he wrote in a post on X.
Leavitt, however, called the outrage around Trump’s post “fake.”
In a statement to Newsweek and other outlets, Leavitt said: “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from ‘The Lion King.’”
“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” Leavitt added.
The complete AI-generated video, which was first posted on X in October 2025, shows several other Democrats as animals, all bowing down to Trump at the end.
Joe Biden appears as a baboon; Kamala Harris as a tortoise; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as a zebra; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as a meerkat; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a donkey; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a hyena; and Hillary Clinton as a warthog.
It was made by content creator “Xerias,” who also claimed credit for another AI-generated clip shared by Trump last year.
That video, which the president shared after millions turned out for “No Kings” protests across the country, shows a digitally rendered Trump piloting a fighter jet with “KING TRUMP” lettering and dropping cartoonish payloads of excrement on demonstrators.
The artificial intelligence-generated slop, set to the Top Gun song “Danger Zone,” quickly went viral, prompting backlash and confusion across social media. It also earned a rebuke from singer Kenny Loggins, who was not pleased that his hit was used to soundtrack the bizarre clip.
“This is an unauthorized use of my performance of ‘Danger Zone,’” the 77-year-old said, demanding that the post be deleted.
The Obamas have been contacted for comment.
