- President Trump posted a racist video clip on Truth Social, which depicted former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes, and was taken down after 12 hours, with Trump claiming "I didn't make a mistake" and blaming a staffer for the error.
- The video, an AI-generated parody of "The Lion King," was widely condemned by Democrats and organizations, including NAACP national president Derrick Johnson, who called it "blatantly racist, disgusting, and utterly despicable," and Sen. Tim Scott, who said it was "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House."
- The incident is the latest example of Trump's history of peddling conspiracy theories and making racist comments, including his role in the "birther" movement and previous remarks echoing white supremacist rhetoric, with Axios reporting that Trump has "flipped America's race conversation" since joining the political scene in 2015.
JUSTICE MATTERS
Axios, New York Times, and BBC all report on the same story, but with variations in language and focus. Axios uses the phrase "overtly racist video clip" and quotes Sen. Tim Scott as calling it "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House", while New York Times describes it as "blatantly racist" and BBC says it "recalls racist caricatures comparing black people to monkeys". Meanwhile, NPR frames it as a "racist meme" and quotes no officials, obscuring the White House's initial defense of the clip as an "internet meme video" and Trump's claim that he "didn't make a mistake", as reported by Axios and New York Times.
Cross-referenced with: New York Times, BBC, NPR
