Barack Obama’s response to Charlottesville violence is the most liked tweet in history

Former President Barack Obama’s response to this week’s violence in Charlottesville has become the most liked tweet ever. The tweet, posted late Saturday, was the first in a series of three quoting former South African President Nelson Mandela.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion...” the tweet reads, under a picture of Obama smiling at four children.

As of Wednesday morning, the tweet has garnered more than 2.9 million likes, surpassing a tweet that Ariana Grande posted earlier this year following a terrorist attack at her concert in Manchester, England. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed to Mashable that Obama’s tweet is now the most liked in the site’s history. The tweet is currently the fifth most retweeted as well, according to Favstar, a website that tracks Twitter metrics.

Obama hasn’t tweeted that often since leaving office in January, though he has used the platform to comment on major news stories, including the Manchester attack. His response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville is in stark contrast to that of President Donald Trump, who remained silent on Twitter for hours as the violence escalated. Trump has also faced widespread criticism for insisting that “both sides” — white supremacists and those protesting hate groups — are to blame for the clashes.