Whoopi Goldberg Condemns Trump’s Racist Meme Targeting Obamas
A controversial AI-generated video posted by former President Donald Trump depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes has sparked widespread outrage, prompting a sharp rebuke from actress and television personality Whoopi Goldberg.
The video, shared on Trump’s Truth Social account last week – February 5, 2026 – featured the former President and First Lady’s faces superimposed onto dancing apes, set to the tune of ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight.’ Goldberg herself was depicted as a hippo, seemingly referencing her voice work as the hyena Shenzi in Disney’s 1994 film The Lion King, with the entire clip intended to portray Trump as the “King of the Jungle.”
The meme quickly drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, with many observers decrying it as a deployment of harmful and racist tropes. Despite initial attempts by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to dismiss the backlash as “fake outrage,” the post was ultimately deleted less than a day after it was published.
On Monday, February 9, 2026, Goldberg addressed the controversy during an appearance on The View, stating, “You know, I don’t know why you feel the need to poop on everything. The Lion King is a great kids film full of all kinds of amazing characters.”
She continued, directly challenging the accuracy of the depiction, “There are no apes in The Lion King and I just would like y’all at least once, once in your administration, to check your facts, check your stuff. You know, just check.”
Goldberg further countered the implication of her depiction as a hippo being inferior to Trump’s lion, asserting, “Just be aware – hippos will kill you faster than a lion in the wild. Hippos lay on you and you’re gone. They chase you…If you’re going to make fun of folks, just make up your own stuff and admit that you did it.”
This incident is not isolated. Goldberg has consistently been a vocal critic of Trump, recently joining numerous public figures in condemning his controversial remarks regarding Rob Reiner following Reiner’s death.
Musician Jack White also expressed strong disapproval of the Obama meme, writing that the post would be grounds for immediate dismissal in any other profession, “except for arguably the most important position in the world.” He went on to accuse Trump of being “a racist, a rapist, a felon, a grifter (currently ordering the U.S. government to pay him $10 billion simply because no one will stop him), and a full-on dementia sufferer,” adding that Trump’s possession of the nuclear codes poses an existential threat.
Meanwhile, Trump himself used his platform to criticize Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, February 8, 2026, labeling it a “slap in the face” to America and “one of the worst, EVER,” and claiming “nobody understands a word this guy is saying.”
The recent wave of criticism directed at Trump and ICE extends beyond these individual incidents. A growing number of entertainment figures, including Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, Green Day, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Morello, Mark Ruffalo, and Lady Gaga, have publicly voiced their opposition in recent weeks.
Here is a link to the clip of Whoopi Goldberg’s reaction on The View: https://twitter.com/TheView/status/gS7LxIva3P.
The ongoing controversy underscores the deep divisions within American society and the potent influence of rhetoric in the current political climate.
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