BISHOPS of the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church in the United States have called on Donald Trump to apologise or resign over a video posted on his social-media account which showed President and Mrs Obama as apes.
The post was initially dismissed by the Trump administration as “an internet meme video which depicted President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from [Disney’s] The Lion King”. It was later deleted, and a White House official was blamed for the “erroneous” post.
President Trump later said that he had not watched the whole video before sharing it, and refused to apologise.
The Episcopalian Bishop of Pennsylvania, the Rt Revd Daniel Gutiérrez, was “repulsed and sickened” by the video, he said.
“It is a sin against the Lord. This is not just politics or someone being themselves. It is an affront to Christ. Either you apologize, Mr President, or you resign. If that doesn’t happen, Congress and Mr. Speaker, who claims to be Christian, need to do something.”
His statement has been liked more than 10,000 times on Facebook.
Senior RC bishops, including the Archbishops of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, and of Detroit, the Most Revd Edward Weisenburger, also demanded an immediate apology.
“Our shock is real,” Cardinal Cupich said. “So is our outrage. Nothing less than an unequivocal apology — to the nation and to the persons demeaned — is acceptable.” He described the post as “blatant racism”.