Barack Obama to Donald Trump
Come for Me, Not My Family …
After Racist A.I. Video
Published
Barack Obama is making it clear he’s not losing sleep over that racist A.I. video President Donald Trump posted … but he is drawing a line when it comes to his family.
In a new interview with The New Yorker, Obama addressed the controversy sparked back in February when Trump shared an A.I.-generated clip on social media depicting the former prez and wife Michelle Obama as apes — imagery that ignited immediate backlash.
Obama’s take? He’s not taking the bait.
“I don’t take it personally,” he said … but said there’s a boundary. “I’m always offended when my wife and kids get dragged into things, because they didn’t choose this … That’s a line that even people whose politics I deeply reject, I would expect them to care about.”
“I would never talk about somebody’s family in that way.”
The clip — posted by 45/47 on his Truth Social account and ultimately deleted — opened with audio alleging fraud in the 2020 presidential election over a chart. The video then briefly cuts to a scene showing Barack and Michelle’s faces edited onto apes dancing in a jungle … set to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” playing in the background.
Still, Barack says the bigger issue isn’t just one offensive video — it’s the broader trend. He pointed to other A.I. clips he says are even more disturbing — including ones that treat war “like a video game” and show crude imagery involving everyday people. In his view, that’s a deeper problem than political cheap shots.
And while he admits he’s fair game — “you can feel free to pick on me, because I’m your own size,” he says — he’s not about to make a career out of firing back. Obama says he’s deliberately steering clear of becoming a daily political commentator … even joking that if he started going off like Jon Stewart, he’d lose his footing as a leader.
Bottom line … Obama’s able to absorb the hits, but says some shots are out of bounds.