U.S. President Donald Trump has ignored an apology for posting, and then removing, a video on his social network, Truth Social, which featured Obama, then U.S. President, and his wife, former FLOTUS Michelle Obama, as monkeys. This post was made sometime between February 5 and 6, 2026. Trump posted a video on Thursday night, most of which was about his claims of election fraud from 2020.
Towards the end, it had a brief segment with a racist tone, an animated video or clip with the Obamas depicted with ape/monkey features in a jungle background.
The post quickly came under widespread condemnation, including from some Republican members of Congress, who view it as an offense prompting its removal along with an apology.
Initially, the White House/Trump camp justified or made light of it, but the video was removed about 12 hours later on Friday afternoon in response to the backlash. When pressed about his intention by the media aboard Air Force One (en route to Florida on February 6, 2026), Trump said: “I didn’t know about the full video. I didn’t know about the bad parts at the end of the video. A staffer slipped and didn’t include a very small part.”
“He said he condemned the racist portion (‘Of course I do’).”
On the other hand, when asked if he would apologize, he said, “No, I didn’t make a mistake.”
This newspaper headline, ‘I Didn’t Make a Mistake’: Trump Declines to Apologize for Racist Video of Obamas, correlates with other news headlines by other prominent newspapers:
The Obamas’ spokesperson declined to comment. Reactions ranged from bipartisan outrage to some Republicans (e.g., Rep. Mike Lawler) calling it “incredibly offensive” regardless of intent.The episode has fueled significant criticism, with some describing it as part of a pattern, while Trump maintains it was an oversight by staff rather than his own error.
