US Vice President JD Vance recently spoke about President Donald Trump’s viral AI-generated video of the Obamas as apes that he shared on his social media platform. While answering questions in Azerbaijan over the Epstein Files, he was asked about the controversy surrounding the video. Dismissing the severity of the entire incident, Vance swiftly sidelined it while calling it ‘not a real controversy’. When grilled on the incident Vance jumped to the President’s defence, “Yeah, I mean it was…it was one of those things where either because the time zone changed or because we were so busy, the controversy had started and then died out by the time I even paid attention to it, you know.”
He attempted to explain the video with the reasoning that a White House staffer posted it and the President had not watched it entirely. But it was taken down as soon as he saw it. The VP who is on a peace-making tour between Armenia and Azerbaijan then claimed that there were much more important things to focus on than the now-deleted video. “The president said that a staffer posted the video. He hadn’t even watched the whole thing. When he watched the whole thing, he took it down. It’s not a real controversy. We have much more important things to focus on,” he said to the reporters. When asked if Trump should apologise for posting the video, Vance seemed offended, saying “Should he apologise for posting a video and then taking it down? No, I don’t think so. I think people post something on social media and if you don’t like it you just take it down.”The video in reference was posted by the 79-year-old American leader on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday. It featured animated versions of former United States President and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as apes while ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ played in the background. While the post created humongous outrage online, also being pointed out by many that is was posted during Black History month, the Republicans were less than sorry for it. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the media of creating “fake outrage”, while Trump himself claimed he “didn’t see” the racist bit and added that he “didn’t make a mistake” while refusing to apologise. Elsewhere in the interview, Vance also commented on American Olympians speaking out against ICE brutalities and current civil unrest in America in their interviews and pleaded with them to stop being mean to the President. He advised them to unite the country and represent it rather than talk about politics. “Yes, you’re going to have some Olympic athletes who pop off about politics. I feel like that happens every Olympics. My advice to them would be to try to bring the country together. And when you’re representing the country, you’re representing Democrats and Republicans, you’re there to play a sport and you’re there to represent your country and hopefully win a medal. You’re not there to pop off about politics,” he said.Vance is on a regional trip to Azerbaijan along with his wife Usha Vance and three kids. He also went to Armenia in order to formalise a US-brokered peace process between the Caucasus neighbours. He met Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and also announced America’s collaboration with both countries.
