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Obama Calls Kanye A ‘Jackass’

Posted by JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor in Arts & Entertainment, Politics.
Sep 15th, 2009 | Comments

NOTE: “Kenya” in original title has been changed to “Kanye”. – TS

Last night, for his bad manners at the VMA. Terry Moran let it slip in a tweet…

Now, an ABC spokesperson explains to POLITICO what happened:

“In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview. This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again.”

The White House had no immediate comment.

It’s still trending on Twitter. At my house all agreed, Obama was right. The transcript:

Q: Were your girls as hacked off as mine were that Kanye gave Taylor Swift the Joe Wilson treatment?

Obama: I thought that was really inappropriate. You know it was like she’s getting an award — why are you butting in? I, I hear you — I agree with you.

Q: So does that count as the first question?

Obama: The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She’s getting her award. What’s he doing up there? He’s a jackass. (Laughter) No, now — this — all this stuff — I’m assuming all this stuff. Where’s the pool? Come on guys. Cut the president some slack. I got a lot of other stuff on my plate. Yeah. Cause I remember last time it was the fly thing. Now that was the highlight of (trails off)

Q: No that worked out well for you. You were a ninja.

Obama: Except PETA… (laughter)

Listen:

I first heard via Ande Towle.

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tidbits

Joe - nit picky, I know, but he called Kanye a jackass, not the nation of Kenya (in the headline?).

DaGoat

I'm guessing Obama's upset because Kenyans keep winning all the long distance events.

D. E.Rodriguez

Who is Kanye? I have been called a jackass on this site, so I must assume that that term is a complimentary one.

ordinarysparrow

as one that saw the rudeness of Kanye to Taylor Swift. . .i thought Obama was speaking for the Nation. . .

Leonidas

Hey something Conservatives, Progressives and Moderates can all agree on Kanye is a jackass.

adelinesdad

I actually hadn't heard about the Kanye controversy until now (I know, the president is cooler than me), but after looking it up I have to say he was right.

But he actually almost had a Biden moment when he said "Except PETA..." Was he about to poke fun at PETA?:)

JWindish

Yikes! Typo in the headline, no less... Isn't Kanye where Obama was born?

Thanks for fixing it for me Tyrone.

Cleary

Where was Obama when the Left was savaging Carrie Prejean? He has the same views as she did. Why was he not chivalrous to protect her? Can you say coward? Can you say putz? No? Well I will. He's a coward because he didn't want to face the mighty and powerful Perez Hilton. And he's . ...for letting Prejean take arrows that he could have deflected. He's shown that he knows and is willing to comment about things happening in the general culture. So no one can claim he didn't know what was going on. That excuse is gone thanks to the current story. Way to go, Mr. President. You have shown the world what a world-class ...looks like.

LionAslan

cleary, an odd name for a p... whose comments are not even close to world class.

riverrat

Obama is right in this case. Kanye West had no reason to go up on stage and deny Taylor Swift her moment in the sun. It was a classless act, and rightly should be criticized for it.

archangel

hi there cleary and all: Read the commenter rules. They're at the top of the home page. Among others, commenters are to stay on the topic of the article. Please pull back on the name calling. Thanks.

Dr. E
dme, TMV

D. E.Rodriguez

Cleary:

Even after having been edited by a moderator, your comments are still offensive and less than informed.

I say that because you call the President a coward, without knowing what his private thoughts were about Prejean or Perez Hilton.

The only reason we know what Obama privately thinks about Kanye is because his off-the-record comments (that is private, not for publication) became public.

Shard

If anything, this "slip" is going to help the President's image aside from a few areas of the public. No real harm done, and nothing that they have to apologize for. If he does, in fact, apologize for use of that language, then we've gotten way to politically-correct than needed.

DLS

Pelosi's successor?

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