Obama Faces Backlash for Film's 'Warning' About White People

Former President Barack Obama is facing backlash on Monday over a film on which he was a consultant, which "warns" about white people.

After concluding his presidency in 2017, Obama has written a bestselling memoir and signed a deal with Netflix to produce films and television series. The former president has also created Higher Ground, a production company co-led by his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, in which projects were set to touch on issues of race and class, democracy and civil rights.

The company's first production, American Factory, debuted in 2019 and centered on an abandoned General Motors plant that was reopened in Ohio by a Chinese billionaire. The film took home an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

More recently, Obama served as a consultant on Sam Esmail's latest film, Leave the World Behind, based on Rumaan Alam's novel of the same name.

The film, which was released on Netflix Friday, follows two families forced to work together amid a nationwide blackout. As the threat grows, both families must decide how best to survive the potential crisis, all while grappling with their places in the collapsing world.

The former president and first lady signed on to produce the film last year, and as part of the deal, Obama was able to share his perspective on the events that unfolded on screen.

According to Vanity Fair, while writing the script, Esmail consulted Obama, hoping that his perspective would "ground" the story and make it more realistic. Esmail added that Obama thought the script was fairly close to how a crisis would actually pan out in the real world.

"He had a lot [of] notes about the characters and the empathy we would have for them," Esmail told the magazine. "I have to say he is a big movie lover, and he wasn't just giving notes about things that were from his background. He was giving notes as a fan of the book, and he wanted to see a really good film."

However, since the film's release on Netflix, some have taken to X, formerly Twitter, to share their thoughts on a specific scene in the movie.

Newsweek reached out to Obama via email for comment on Monday.

The scene in question shows a Black couple lying in bed as the lines, "I'm asking you to remember that if the world falls apart, trust should not be doled out easily to anyone, especially white people."

X user Libs of TikTok noted the scene, while claiming the scene was "demonizing" toward white people.

"Netflix film called "Leave The World Behind" produced by the Obamas includes a scene demonizing white people. White people are the only group you're allowed and celebrated to be racist towards and it will be put into movies by the most influential people," Libs of TikTok wrote on X.

X user Matt Wallace called the clip of the scene "racist," saying, "This racist clip from Barack & Michelle Obama's first fiction film on Netflix called: "Leave The World Behind" is about to go viral!"

Citizen Free Press, a news aggregation website, also said the scene "warns about White people if the world falls apart."

"Barack Obama gave major feedback on the script for Netflix's 'Leave the World Behind.' The film fantasizes a cyber apocalypse and warns about white people if the world falls apart," the outlet wrote on X.

Others have praised Obama for being a producer in the film, as some have also defended the scene.

Sports journalist Jemele Hill wrote on X, "I'm watching Leave The World Behind and the Obamas being executive producers of this is exquisite, masterful trolling. There's also some much larger discussable points to it. But conspiracy theorists are gonna pass out watching this."

X user MissMa'am wrote, "Leave the World Behind touches on so many important things, but my fave is that when the world goes to s***, black people should not be quick to trust anyone, especially white people ... And we shouldn't be doing s*** for them out of the kindness of our hearts."