USA: former president Obama reacts to racist depiction by Trump

By Rédaction Africanews

Former US president Barack Obama has reacted to a racist AI-generated video depicting himself and his wife Michelle Obama as apes. The video was shared by current US president Donald Trump, who claimed that he had not seen the part of the video showing the Obamas.

Donald Trump is not known for liking Barack Obama. He usually refers to his predecessor exclusively as “Barack Hussein Obama”, emphasising Obama’s second name.

But Trump’s recent sharing of a racist social media video depicting both Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama with ape bodies seems to mark a further escalation in animosity.

After keeping silent for a few days following the publication of the video last week, Obama has now reacted to it.

“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television, 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,” he said during a news talk show interview published on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Trump stated that he would not apologise for the video, that he hadn’t seen the part of the video depicting the Obamas and that the video had been posted by his staff and not himself.