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Former U.S. President Barack Obama has criticized a controversial video shared by President Donald Trump, which depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes—a post widely condemned as racist. Obama labeled the incident as a part of a “clown show.”
Obama aired his views during an extensive interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, a liberal podcaster in the U.S., which took place on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).
This marked Obama’s first public commentary following the incident where Trump’s social media account released and subsequently removed the offensive video earlier this month, which portrayed the former president and first lady in a demeaning manner.
During the interview, Cohen brought up the video and questioned Obama on strategies to counter the erosion of civil discourse in America.
While Obama refrained from directly addressing Trump’s actions, he remarked, “There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television,” highlighting a shift where individuals “who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect” now seem to exhibit “no shame about this.”
Trump has refused to apologise for the video, blaming a staffer for the mistake and insisting he hadn’t seen the final frames of the video which contained the offensive content.
“I think it’s important to recognise that the majority of the American people find this behaviour deeply troubling,” Obama said.
“It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction.”
He argued that the US can restore “norms, rule of law (and) decency” by saying “enough,” something he said he’s now “seeing across the board”.
Trump’s post was widely condemned by a wide range of American politicians and civic leaders, from civil rights chiefs to veteran Republican senators, for its treatment of the nation’s first Black president and first lady.
The US Senate’s lone Black Republican, Tim Scott of South Carolina, called on Trump to take down the post.
“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Scott said.
Another Republican, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, is white but represents the state with the largest percentage of Black residents.
Wicker called the post “totally unacceptable” and said the president should apologise.
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