Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have been hit with backlash for producing film that encourages distrust in “white people”
“Leave the World Behind” was produced by the Obamas’ company Higher Ground and released last week on Netflix.
The movie has sparked controversy for featuring a scene where a bi-racial character cautions against trusting “white people.”
“Leave the World Behind,” based on Rumaan Alam’s novel, revolves around two families who must live together after a technology blackout isolates them from the outside world, according to Newsweek.
Netflix's "Leave the World Behind" cyber apocalypse movie warns about "white people" if "the world falls apart."
Barack and Michelle Obama are producers on the film. pic.twitter.com/HRV7oO96sa
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) December 11, 2023
Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke’s characters rent a luxurious house in an affluent beach town, when the man who owns it (Mahershala Ali) shows up at the front door with his young adult daughter in the middle of the night.
During their initial encounter, Roberts’ character is seemingly taken aback that a black man could own such a magnificent property.
Hawk’s character is sympathetic to their plight and quick to welcome the strangers, who are initially unable to prove that the home actually belongs to them.
Robert’s character remains skeptical and weary about their presence, even after Ali’s character offers half off the rental price to allow them to stay in a basement bedroom.
The young daughter, played by Myha’la, is upset about their predicament of living with this other family, who her father let stay in the main living area of their home while he is relegated to sleeping on the floor.
She cautions her father, who seems to have the most comprehensive grasp on the apocalypse they’re facing, to be careful who he trusts.
According to Netflix movie produced by Obama, white people aren't to be trusted during an apocalypse.
Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/84uMCz9Txv
— We Got It (@WeGotIt2k) December 13, 2023
“I’m asking you to remember that if the world falls apart, trust should not be doled out easily to anyone, especially white people,” she tells him.
Robert’s character is also portrayed to be subtly racist throughout the film, at one point telling the daughter that she assumed she wasn’t swimming in the pool because she didn’t want to get her hair wet.
“Leave the World Behind” has become Netflix’s number one film worldwide since its release, holding the top spot in 85 countries.
It marks the Obamas’ first successful venture in the film industry.
Director and screenwriter Sam Esmail told Vanity Fair that the ex-president was involved in the details of the script.
“In the original drafts of the script, I definitely pushed things a lot farther than they were in the film, and President Obama, having the experience he does have, was able to ground me a little bit on how things might unfold in reality,” he commented.
Esmail said that though he was writing “fiction,” he tried to keep the story line “as true to life as possible,” despite dramatizing it for the silver screen.
“And to hear an ex-president say you’re off by a few details,” he concluded.
“I thought I was off by a lot! The fact that he said that scared the f*** out of me.”
Social media commenters were blasted the former first couple for producing a film that painted white people as untrustworthy.
“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 tweeted.
The Obamas are two of the most influential people on the planet. Politics aside, you have to agree that their potential power to create good in the world is monumental.
That's why seeing that power used to promote racial hatred is deeply disappointing. pic.twitter.com/HpCuyVlgbI
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) December 11, 2023
“The Obamas are two of the most influential people on the planet,
wrote actor James Woods.
“Politics aside, you have to agree that their potential power to create good in the world is monumental. That’s why seeing that power used to promote racial hatred is deeply disappointing.”
While others were concerned that the Obamas were telling the nation what’s about to happen in the near future through a film purported to be fictional.
“Have yall watched ‘Leave the world behind”? I feel so uneasy because this can easily happen TOMORROW,” someone wrote.
“Forget tomorrow, we’re pretty much on step 2. Step 3 is coming and the Obamas are mocking all of us who don’t live in the Hamptons as they warn us it’s coming,” another added.