Pastor Jentezen Franklin, who serves on President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission (RLC), on Feb. 6 called on the president to denounce the “terrible” Truth Social post that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
“When I saw the insensitive and racial depiction today on Truth Social of the former President and his wife, my heart sank,” said Franklin in an Instagram post. “It was a terrible post. In all times we need to remember to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.’ Luke 10:27.”
“I encourage the President to publicly denounce the post and make sure that this can’t happen again,” said the pastor.
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Jentezen Franklin Among Christian Leaders Denouncing Trump’s Post
The night of Thursday, Feb. 5, a video was shared to President Trump’s Truth Social account that focused on alleged voter fraud and promoted false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Near the end of the video, which was just over a minute long, a clip appeared depicting the Obamas as primates.
Comparisons of Black people to monkeys have long been used as a racist trope. Notably, February is Black History Month.
The depiction of the Obamas is from an apparently AI-generated video originally shared in October by an X account called “Xerias.” The caption of Xerias’ video says, “President Trump: King of the Jungle.”
The video depicts various Democrats, primarily politicians, as different jungle animals who bow down to Trump, whose face is superimposed over a lion. Politicians portrayed in the video include Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Gavin Newsom.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially responded to the outcry against Trump’s Truth Social post on Feb. 6 by saying, “Please stop the fake outrage, and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
However, the video was taken down later that day. A White House official told news outlets that a White House staffer had “erroneously” posted it.
Numerous Christian leaders and influencers denounced the video. But some influencers argued that it was not as shocking as others were making it out to be, with a number of people minimizing the severity of the offense on the grounds that the jungle video seems as though it accidentally autoplayed at the end of the election fraud video.
Pastor Jentezen Franklin called on the president to denounce the “terrible” Truth Social post that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.Click to Post
