‘He’s pathethic’: Trump supporter apologizes for backing President after racist social media post of the Obamas

The White House’s initial response to the bipartisan reaction to the video was “fake outrage” before it was later taken down.

President Donald Trump kicked off a national firestorm on Thursday (Feb. 5) after a social media post depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as gorillas quickly went viral. The clip featured superimposed images of the Obama’s heads on gorillas nodding along to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” a song popularized by the 1994 film, “The Lion King.”

The video spawned bipartisan reaction, decrying it as racist. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially claimed the response to the video was “fake backlash” and that the clip was taken out of context, as it depicts Trump as the King of the Jungle, and Democrats were different characters from “The Lion King.” However, there are no gorillas in “The Lion King,” and the lone monkey was Rafiki, an advisor to Mufasa and later, Simba.

“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King, “Leavitt said. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”

Later, the White House placed the blame on a rogue staffer, saying the video was posted “erroneously”. It has since been taken down.

The harmful depiction resonated with one Republican voter, who called into C-SPAN’s “Open Forum” to voice his displeasure with the president and his actions.

“I am a registered Republican,” the man, who identified himself as Joe from New Mexico, began. “Voted for the president, supported him, but I really want to apologize. I’m looking at this awful picture of the Obamas. What an embarrassment to our country.”

He added, “All this man does is tell lies. He is not worthy of the presidency; he takes bribes, blatantly. And now he’s being a racist, blatantly.”

In three separate elections between 2016 and 2024, Trump has not won New Mexico. No Republican presidential candidate has won the state since George W. Bush in 2004.

Joe then turned his attention to Trump’s immigration policy, pointing toward raids of elementary schools and the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis.

Republican @cspanwj caller from New Mexico: "I voted for the president, supported him, but I really want to apologize. I'm looking at this awful picture of the Obamas. What an embarrassment to our country." pic.twitter.com/p2HAUtGf5J— CSPAN (@cspan) February 6, 2026

“They were supposed to deport the dangerous criminals,” Joe said. “They were not supposed to go after small children, storm schools, bring terror upon the little kids and the women and children. Not just the immigrants in the school, all the children are scared. This is not a decent man, this is not an honest man. He openly takes bribes. He’s pathetic as a president and I just wanna apologize to everyone in the country for supporting this rotten, rotten man.”

John admitted he voted for Trump in all three elections, on the promise that jobs would return to his area.

“There are no more jobs in New Mexico,” he said. “Some things are worse than they were before.”