A White House official told news outlets including CNN and CNBC that a White House staffer had “erroneously” posted the video.
Many Christian leaders denounced the video. But some of those reacting to it are arguing that it was not racist, or at least not as shocking as people are making it out to be. Their reasons include that Biden was also portrayed as a primate and that the jungle video seems as though it autoplayed at the end of the election fraud video. Others, however, see this reasoning as faulty.
“No shame anymore. We did this. We could have for the last 10 years chosen a candidate with a shred of moral decency. We didn’t,” said Scott Douglas, pastor of First Baptist Church of Fairview Heights in Fairview Heights, Illinois. “We knew this was the character of the man in 2015. There were options and we still chose the lowest. Power makes a terrible god, behold the fruit.”
“Yesterday, this man appeared at a prayer breakfast at which he announced he would preside over an event on the National Mall to ‘rededicate America as one nation under God,’” said Michael Wear, founder, president, and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life.
Daniel Darling, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, reposted Scott, saying that the senator was “right.”
“The Democrats are lying. Trump wasn’t being racist towards Barack and Michelle Obama,” said author and speaker Samuel Sey. “The full video also depicts Joe Biden as a monkey, Hakeem Jeffries as a meerkat, and Kamala Harris as a turtle. The President shouldn’t share foolish videos like that, but it’s not racist.”
“Agreed with the racist part,” Tom Buck, pastor of First Baptist Church of Lindale in Lindale, Texas, replied to Sey. “But the fact that he posted this is clearly despicable. If Biden or Harris had done this, we would be outraged. And rightly so.”
“The President should not be posting images of a former Black president as an ape regardless of the context,” said author and professor Dr. O. Alan Noble. “This is not controversial.”
“Grotesque and evil. There’s no way to spin or rationalize this,” said New York Times columnist and commentator David French. “It is exactly what it is. And he is who we said he was.”
“Update for onlookers: As suspected, it was a mistake by a staffer, has been deleted,” said Josh Howerton, senior pastor of Dallas-area Lakepointe Church. “Wait, learn, and reflect. Don’t just emotionally react.”
