Sen. Tim Scott said President Donald Trump should remove a social media post that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, calling it “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” after the post triggered a wave of condemnation and was later deleted, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
Scott, a South Carolina Republican and the only Black Republican in the Senate, posted his criticism Friday on X as the video spread online. “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it,” Scott wrote.
The post originated from Trump’s Truth Social account late Thursday and included an AI-generated segment showing the former president and former first lady’s faces superimposed onto primates, set to music, as part of a longer clip that promoted false claims about the 2020 election, Reuters and the Washington Post reported.
The White House initially defended the post. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it came from an “internet meme video” portraying Trump as “the King of the Jungle” and Democrats as characters from “The Lion King,” the Washington Post and Reuters reported.
Hours later, the White House deleted the post and attributed its publication to a staff mistake. “A White House staffer erroneously made the post,” a White House official told Reuters. “It has been taken down.” The AP similarly reported that the video was removed after backlash and that the administration said a staffer posted it in error.
Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it. https://t.co/gADoM13ssZ
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) February 6, 2026
The incident drew condemnation from civil rights leaders and some Republicans. Reuters reported that Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, said Trump should apologize and delete the post. The AP reported that NAACP President Derrick Johnson called the video “blatantly racist” and condemned it as “disgusting” and “utterly despicable.”
Scott’s public break with Trump on the issue stood out because he has largely aligned himself with the president. People reported that Scott endorsed Trump during the 2024 cycle after ending his own presidential bid, and urged the post’s removal as it circulated Friday morning.
The White House did not publicly say whether Trump personally shared the clip or whether the staffer posted it without the president’s involvement, according to the Washington Post. However, Trump is known for his late-night social media postings with little regard for who he may offend.
The imagery drew particular condemnation because depictions of Black people as monkeys echo a long-running racist trope used to dehumanize people of African descent. The controversy unfolded during Black History Month, a poor timing that has only intensified the public reaction.
The latest scandal revived attention on Trump’s history of amplifying racially charged claims involving Obama, including his years of promoting the false “birther” conspiracy that questioned the former president’s birthplace.
By Friday afternoon, the White House had removed the video, but the damage had been done. However, at the pace at which Trump manages to control the media and headlines, it will come as no surprise if a new controversy arises within 48 hours, and this becomes another episode of the president crossing yet another line.
