The first reaction of Barack Obama after the clip shared by Trump in which he was presented as a monkey

Former US President Barack Obama reacted indirectly to the racist video shared by President Donald Trump on his social network, saying the “shame” and “sense of decency” that once guided public officials “has been lost”, the BBC reports.

The offending video depicted Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as monkeys, drawing widespread criticism from Democrats and Republicans.

The White House initially defended the video, calling the backlash “fake outrage.” The post was later attributed to a Trump staff member and deleted.

In a podcast broadcast Saturday, Obama was asked about the tone of political discourse in the United States. The moderator cited Trump's post among several recent controversies.

“Just a few days ago, Donald Trump put a picture of you, your face, on the body of a monkey,” said liberal podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen.

In response, the former US president said, without directly naming Trump: “It is important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply disturbing,” Obama said.

“It's true that it attracts attention. It's true that it's a distraction,” Obama added.

But Obama said that during his travels in the US, he met people who “still believe in decency, politeness, kindness.”

“There's a kind of clown show happening on social media and on television,” he continued.

“And what's true is that there doesn't seem to be any shame about that anymore among people who used to feel that you had to have a certain decency and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? That's been lost,” the former US president said.