The vile troll who used artificial intelligence to create a racist video of the Obamas shared by President Trump was behind another viral outrage.
Among dozens of posts fired out in quick succession by the 79-year-old overnight, there’s a clip that shows Michelle and Barack Obama with their heads superimposed onto the bodies of animated apes. The vile video, which drew wide criticism, was sensationally defended by the White House on Friday morning.
Despite the clear racist imagery, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dug her heels in, saying: “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
The appalling video, which the Daily Beast has chosen not to show, was made by content creator ‘Xerias.’ “LMAO My President,” they wrote on Truth Social after the 79-year-old president shared their racist video.
Xerias also appears to be the mastermind behind another AI-generated clip shared by the president in October last year. After millions turned out for “No Kings” protests across the country to speak out against the increasingly authoritarian bent to his rule, Trump posted the clip, depicting him as a fighter pilot dropping what appears to be poop on protestors.
Not much is known about Xerias, but the creator has profiles on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Trump’s Truth Social. Elon Musk’s social media site says that they are based in the U.S.
“I meme what’s trending,” the creator writes in social bios. Their posts often disparagingly show Democratic or left-wing individuals. For example, musicians who spoke out against Immigration and Customs Enforcement at last week’s Grammys bore the brunt of the AI villain.
In one post endorsed by Xerias, singers Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish and Bad Bunny were targeted. They have all slammed ICE in the past. Latin Superstar Bad Bunny got a particularly negative showing, with the clip showing him drowning and being eaten by sharks, unable to speak English because he’s “re-----d.”
Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico, does speak English, but ruffled MAGA feathers when he suggested on Saturday Night Live that Americans had just months to learn Spanish ahead of his controversial Super Bowl appearance.
In recent weeks, Xerias has posted a video of Don Lemon twerking and pole dancing in prison. In another clip, the former CNN host is embraced by disgraced rapper Diddy in jail.
Others show a digital Trump dancing with new MAGA darling, Nicki Minaj, and Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar being assaulted by her real-life attacker, only this time with an Iron Man arm.
The creator was even featured in the Epstein files, when an unidentified person congratulated Kash Patel for his appointment as FBI head in Feb. last year. The person sent an email with a link to a Xerias video that shows Patel jailing Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. “Best video of you ever!” the sender said.
One of the targets in the wild poo video was Democratic TikTok political commentator Harry Sisson. “He’s proving our point about him, that he’s childish. He’s only interested in internet beef with people. He’s not a serious legislator. He doesn’t actually care about making this country better. He just likes getting into feuds,” he said of Trump sharing the video, in a chat with The Daily Beast Podcast.
The artificial intelligence-generated slop, set to the Top Gun song “Danger Zone,” went viral quickly. Singer Kenny Loggins also spoke out against it, demanding that it be deleted because it used his track without permission.
“This is an unauthorized use of my performance of ‘Danger Zone,’” the 77-year-old said. “Nobody asked me for my permission, which I would have denied, and I request that my recording on this video is removed immediately.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was also forced to defend it. Speaking to the press, his excuse was that social media-savvy Trump uses his Truth Social to engage with Americans.
“The president uses social media to make a point,” a visibly uncomfortable Johnson responded. “You can argue he’s probably the most effective person who’s ever used social media for that.”
Johnson went on to claim Trump was using “satire to make a point.”
