Former President Barack Obama condemned a racist video shared on President Donald Trump’s social media account that depicted Mr. Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, calling the incident troubling and lamenting the state of political discourse in the United States.
In his first public comments since the Feb. 5 post on Truth Social, Obama said the clip was symptomatic of a broader loss of “decorum and respect for the office” of the presidency and that many Americans find such behavior deeply troubling.
“What is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sense of decorum and respect for the office,” he said in a podcast interview with Brian Tyler Cohen published Saturday.
The video, which combined false election fraud claims with an appearance near the end showing the Obamas’ faces superimposed on apes against The Lion Sleeps Tonight, prompted bipartisan criticism and was ultimately deleted from Trump’s account after hours of backlash.
Trump has denied seeing the offensive portion before it was posted and has refused to apologize for the segment. The White House initially characterized criticism as “fake outrage” and later said the clip was posted in error by a staffer.
Obama, the nation’s first Black president, did not name Trump directly in his remarks but described what he called a “clown show” in social media and television politics.
He emphasized that most Americans still believe in “decency, courtesy, and kindness,” and he framed the episode as part of a broader concern about the erosion of civility in public life.
The controversy comes amid continued debate over race, political rhetoric, and norms in U.S. public life. Prominent lawmakers from both parties condemned the post when it first appeared, with Republican Sen. Tim Scott calling it “the most racist thing I have seen out of this White House.”
