Obama's State Department paid Kehinde Wiley – the man who bragged about his "kill whitey" painting – to hang his art in a Washington, DC embassy.
Now Ambassador Leah Campos just tore it off the wall and replaced it with the American flag.
And Barack Obama blew a gasket when he heard what Trump’s team plans to do with the State Department painting he commissioned in 2013.
Obama's Art Pick Had a Track Record Everyone Ignored
The State Department commissioned the painting in 2013 – on the taxpayer's dime – under an Obama administration that knew exactly who Wiley was.
He had already painted two separate images of black women holding the severed heads of white women.
In 2018, when Obama chose Wiley to paint his official presidential portrait at the Smithsonian, the Media Research Center called him "the art world's equivalent of Kathy Griffin" – the comedian who posed with a fake severed Trump head.
https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/2086073605427691753?s=20
Nobody in the Obama administration cared.
The painting hung in the Dominican Republic embassy for over a decade.
Trump's Team Didn't Write a Memo
Ambassador Leah Campos filmed the takedown and posted it to Instagram set to Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It."
"In the Trump Administration and under my leadership we are turning away from globalist and woke ideologies and instead embracing American patriotism and the beauty of our great country!" she wrote.
Staff covered the painting with a flag-printed tarp before pulling it from the wall.
Erin Scavino, now directing the Art in Embassies program, called the piece "very woke" and "aesthetically terrifying" on Sean Spicer's show.
The State Department's formal statement went further – citing Wiley's own words about the "kill whitey" theme in his work and pending sexual assault allegations from five accusers, all of which Wiley denies.
"The work of an individual with such violent and racist words and depictions has no place in the America First State Department," the spokeswoman said.
Obama Bought It With Your Money and Trump May Sell It at a Profit
A comparable Wiley painting sold at Phillips auction in 2024 for nearly $845,000.
The State Department is now investigating whether it can legally sell this one – and given the market for Wiley's work, that taxpayer-funded purchase could return significant money to the federal government.
This is not an isolated move.
Trump signed an executive order directing the Smithsonian to remove "improper ideology" and "divisive narratives" from federal institutions.
Trump directed the Smithsonian to remove what he called “improper ideology” and “divisive narratives.”
Instead, he told them to emphasize American greatness.
The Administration also proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities entirely.
The State Department overhauled its process for the 2026 U.S. pavilion at the Venice Biennale, replacing diversity requirements with standards tied to "American values."
“It is my intention that everything we project from US Embassy Santo Domingo, including the art and decor, reflect the beauty, strength, and commitment to liberty of the United States of America and its people,” Campos said.
Obama spent eight years using your money to wallpaper federal buildings with an ideology most Americans never voted for.
Trump's team is doing something simple: taking it down, one wall at a time – and handing taxpayers back the profit.
Sources:
- Amy Furr, "Trump Officials Remove, Plan to Sell 'Very Woke' Painting by Artist Behind Obama Portrait," Breitbart, August 25, 2026.
- State Department Spokeswoman Statement, U.S. Department of State, August 24, 2026.
- Ambassador Leah Campos, Instagram Post, U.S. Embassy Dominican Republic, August 2026.
- Tom Blumer, "Barely News: Barack Obama Portrait Artist's Severed Head Art," NewsBusters/MRC, February 14, 2018.
