White House Says Trump’s Deeply Racist Obamas Meme Is Just a Parody of The Lion King

Overnight, Donald Trump shared a deeply racist meme on Truth Social depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.

Unsurprisingly, the White House is showing no remorse for the post. In a statement shared Tuesday morning, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained away the meme “as part of a 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.”

The video Leavitt referenced was first published by the meme account @xerias_x in October 2025. Set to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” it depicts Trump as a lion and various prominent Democrats as other animals. Trump, however, shared only a one-second snippet showing the Obamas as apes, without any additional context. As of Tuesday morning, his post remains available on Truth Social.