Black allies praise Trump weeks after video depicting Obamas as apes

President Donald Trump celebrated Black History Month with a White House event where he honored civil rights icon Jesse Jackson and basked in praise from Black supporters two weeks after his administration was roiled by a video depicting former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as apes.

Trump kicked off the event in the East Room of the White House Feb. 18 by lauding Jackson, a two-time Democratic presidential candidate and one of the most prominent Black leaders in the nation, who died Feb. 17.

"He was a piece of work, but he was a good man," Trump said. "He was a real hero and I just want to pay my highest respects to Reverend Jesse Jackson."

Black speakers complimented the president during the event, saying he has delivered for the Black community and pushing back against criticism.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that this president right here, Donald Trump … is not for Black America, because he is,” said Trump pardon czar Alice Johnson. "I'm standing here today as a testament ... to how he feels about Black Americans."

Trump shared the video of the Obamas on his Truth Social account earlier in January and was met with bipartisan condemnation from lawmakers blasting it as racist. Sen. Tim Scott, a Black Republican from South Carolina, said he was “praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.”

The White House initially defended the video, but it later was removed from the president’s social media account. Trump declined to apologize, saying he looked only at the beginning of the roughly one-minute-long video, which starts off talking about unsubstantiated voter fraud claims regarding the 2020 election, and didn't see the portion with the Obamas that was widely condemned as racist.

Trump said at the time that he is the "least racist president you've had in a long time" and has “been great" for Black voters, pointing to criminal justice reform and other policies. The president continued to highlight his criminal justice reform measure at the event, along with funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Trump celebrated the Black community's contribution to the military, music and sports, mentioning prominent Black allies such as former boxer Mike Tyson and rapper Nicki Minaj, who appeared with Trump at a recent event and declared, "I'm probably the president's No. 1 fan, and that's not going to change."

Trump said Tyson has been "so loyal" in defending the president against accusations of racism.

"Whenever they come out and say 'Trump's a racist' ... Mike Tyson goes, 'He's not a racist, he's my friend,'" Trump said.

Trump invited Forlesia Cook, a Black grandmother whose grandson was murdered in Washington, D.C., to speak. She touted his deployment of National Guard troops.

"I love him," Cook said. "I don't want to hear nothing you got to say about that racist stuff."

Amid the fallout from the Obama video, Trump also has been feuding with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, the nation’s only Black governor, excluding him from a bipartisan gathering of governors at the White House.

“As the nation’s only Black governor, I can’t ignore that being singled out for exclusion from this bipartisan tradition carries an added weight − whether that was the intent or not," Moore said in a statement.

Early in his second term, Trump ordered federal agencies to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and has sought to reshape how history is presented, complaining in a social media post that the Smithsonian Institution museum complex in the capital is too focused on "how bad slavery was." 

On Feb. 16, a federal judge strongly rebuked the Trump administration and ordered the reinstatement of slavery exhibits at the President's House site in Philadelphia. The Trump administration is appealing the ruling.