Barack Obama has finally addressed the racist video shared by the account of the current occupier of the Oval Office, which depicted the former president and first lady as apes.
The offensive video, which was posted on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account earlier this month, showed America’s first black president and his wife as primates while the song ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ played in the background.
It featured at the end of a larger video making unsubstantiated claims about election fraud, but when the White House was first asked why the POTUS had shared such racist imagery, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt decried the questions as ‘fake outrage’.
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Speaking on the latest episode of Brian Taylor Cohen’s podcast, Obama said: « First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling. »These comments have been Obama’s first since the video was shared, which the White House ultimately blamed on a staffer who ‘erroneously made the post’ and removed.
At the time, Senator Tim Scott simply called it ‘the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House’.
Typically for the former president, he did not want to get into the weeds about why the video had been shared from Trump’s account. Instead, Obama set it in a wider context, adding: « It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction.
« You meet people, they still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness, and there’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television. »
While he did not mention Trump by name, Obama went on to blast the lack of ‘decorum’ in public office.
He continued: « And 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 sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right?
« That’s been lost. »Press Secretary Leavitt’s initial response to claims that the video was racist was to appear to tell the public not believe their eyes, saying: « This is from an internet meme 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. »
What has Trump said about the video?
The president also commented on the video as he told reporters that ‘of course’ he condemned the racist parts.
But when pressed on whether he would apologize, Trump said: « No, I didn’t make a mistake.
« I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine. »
He added: « I looked in the first part and it was really about voter fraud in, and the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is.
« Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they’d look at the whole thing. But I guess somebody didn’t, and they posted. »
The US leader noted: « We took it down as soon as we found out about it. »
Trump later confirmed that the staffer in question had not been fired or disciplined.
Barack and Michelle Obama have both addressed rumors about their marriage falling apart.
The former president and first lady have been married for 31 years and share daughters Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24, together.
Barack was in office for eight years between 2009 to 2017 having served two terms at the White House.
Undeniably having such a high profile and important job would put a strain on even the strongest of couples, but the Obamas always remained steadfast.
While it’s been almost a decade since Barack was president, it’s only been more recently that he and his wife of many years have been rocked with divorce rumors.
Michelle has addressed the theories on the state of their marriage on a few occasions, but now the celebrity couple have addressed the matter together.Barack recently featured on a new episode Michelle’s IMO podcast that she hosts with her brother Michael. On it, Michelle said that ‘folks think we’re divorced’.
Addressing their relationship further, she said: « There hasn’t been one moment in our marriage where I thought about quitting my man. And we’ve had some really hard times. So we had a lot of fun times, a lot of adventures, and I have become a better person because of the man I’m married to. »
Barack became emotional at her comments, replying: « Okay, don’t don’t make me cry right at the beginning of the show that’s so don’t let me start tearing up now. »
Michelle went on to talk about the earlier days of her and Barack’s marriage, recalling what he was like as a father after giving birth to their first child, Malia.
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She said: « He was an engaged father from the minute they were born. He wasn’t the kind a man that was like, ‘I don’t do this, I don’t change diapers, hand them to me when they talk. »
« When Malia was a baby, we shared 50-50, » she continued, adding: « So because we shared that responsibility and Barack owned a huge part of the girls as infants, it established a relationship between him and them that carries through even today. »
Michelle featured on the Diary of a CEO podcast earlier this year where she also touched upon her marriage to Barack.
« If I was having problems with my husband everyone would know about it, » she insisted.
Michelle went on to acknowledge that marriage can be hard but said that she wouldn’t trade it for anything, insisting that Barack was ‘her person’.
Michelle Obama has finally opened up on her reasoning for not attending Donald Trump’s inauguration back in January, as she admitted people jumped to divorce rumors as a result.
The former first lady has a new podcast that she launched in March this year, and has had the likes of Seth Rogen, Tracee Ellis Ross and more as guests. And in her latest episode featuring Benjamin Button actor Teraji P. Henson, Michelle addressed her decision not to attend Trump’s inauguration on January 20, while her husband, Barack Obama, did.
This comes amid rumours that she and Barack may be getting a divorce, which have been fuelled since the beginning of the year when there were several political public appearances, including Trump’s inauguration, which saw former president Barack attend without his wife.At the time when the announcement was made that Michelle wouldn’t be attending the inauguration with her husband, the Obamas’ office released a statement reading: “Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies. Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration » without further explanation. »
This marked an unusual break from tradition, as previous presidents usually attend inaugurations alongside their partners.
However, Michelle explained further the reason for this in her latest podcast episode, which was on the theme of burnout and boundaries.
She described her decision not to attend the ceremony as an act of self-care she is currently practicing: “I’m at this stage in life where I have to define my life on my terms for the first time. So what are those terms, and going to therapy just to work all that out?”She continued: “And so practising no in a very different way intentionally. But then this is what makes it hard because… my decision to skip the inauguration… what people don’t realise… my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me were met with such ridicule and criticism.”
Addressing the rumours directly, she said: “People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason than they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart… while I’m here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me.
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« And it took everything in my power to not do the thing that was right or that was perceived as right, but do the thing that was right for me”.
Michelle has previously expressed her distaste for Trump as she has described him as ‘a convicted felon, a known slumlord’ and a ‘predator found liable for sexual abuse’.
Although she has previously attended Trump’s first inauguration in 2020, she said: “To sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display — there was no diversity, there was no colour on that stage, there was no reflection of the broader sense of America”.
