The U.S. Embassy in Moscow was temporarily lit up to wish President Barack Obama a happy birthday, but images were full of racist tones, the Washington Times reported.
Blaring across the front of the embassy was a projected image of the president wearing a birthday hat and eating a banana, along with the words "happy birthday," on August 6. The Moscow Student Initiative took responsibility for the message, sending out an alert about it on social media, which was then picked up by YouTube.
On the same day, a banner that showed President Obama in the poses of the "Three Wise Monkeys" was unveiled and plastered onto a building located across the street from Moscow's U.S Embassy, The Blaze reported.
One social media user wasn't too happy about the prank, tweeting a message and a picture that read: "Across from the U.S embassy in Moscow today, Russians hung this racist banner addressing Obama on his 53rd birthday."
Other twitter users reblogged various stories on the matter with text that read "Stay classy, Russia."
J. McCabendish tweeted, "It's fascinating to watch #Russia #racists yield to their most uncivilized instincts to attack pbo."
Twitter user Joe Scutella said, "@GOP and #Russia share values."
There is continual strain and bad blood between Obama and President Vladimir Putin, especially in recent months since the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Some have suggested the two countries are on the verge of another Cold War, according to the Washington Times.
A series of racially-charged posts were displayed around the city of Perm in June; one image showed the president with a banana, The Huffington Post reported. In February, former figure skater Irina Rodnina tweeted a racist image of Obama with a banana. Rodnina is a three-time gold medalist who helped light the Sochi Olympic flame and currently holds a political position.
