Isn’t the concept that a comparison of any human to a non-human primate carries a racial connotation, but only if the targeted person is black, itself a racist commentary? The idea seems to be that you can call Kellyane Conway an ape without societal repercussions, but if you call Valerie Jarrett an ape, you’ve crossed some line.
It seems to me that people who react differently to those two scenarios are exposing their own biases and lashing out in horror at the sudden reveal of their own racism.