I’ve never been more proud of a U.S. President than I am today! Even if the only reason he got elected is because of Oprah, I sure am glad I voted for him. During a CNBC interview today, President Obama, off the record, called Kanye West a “jackass” due to his asswipe, obnoxious remarks at the VMAs last night. Unfortunately, in a world with Twitter, nothing is off the record. ABC News reporter Terry Moran wrote the following on his Twitter: “Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a “jackass” for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential.” He deleted it soon after, but he has over a million followers, so the damage had been done.
ABC News issued the following statement:
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.
I can’t wait to see what sort of totally sober, all-caps blog response Kanye has to this shit.
(By the way, if you want to follow the EB writers on Twitter, you can catch me here, Wendie here, Molly here and Kelly here. I promise at some point one of us will call Kanye West a jackass on there too.)
BARACK OBAMA DOES NOT CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE ( THAT ARE DOUCHEBAGS AT THE VMA’S)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ha ha. I needed a reminder as to why I voted for him in the first place. Way to go Obama. :]
Kanye West was on Leno tonight, i actually thought you would have it up beet.
he’s such a sucker. my god.
I’m looking for an embeddable version of the clip — let me know if you come across one.
Did he come across as pathetic to you too? He seemed like he tried to spin it around like he was (yet again) a victim. Dude just needs to go away already.
Really? He said that? You rock, President Obama!!!!!!
I love that he said that but I also think it is pretty irresponsible of a journalist, or whoever in his camp is updating his Twitter account, to put something like that, actually anything out there when it was off the record.
wow. that is extremely unprofessional of the journalist to tweet an off the record remark. that guy is an idiot, and will probably never get to interview obama again.
Although I do agree with you that it’s kind of unprofessional of the journalist, I still think something that great should not be kept a secret. If I was all “Obama’s alright” before, I’m all like ‘OBAMA KICKS ASS” no… LoL He should have made “Kanye is an asshole” a part of his presidential elections campaign… MILLIONS would have voted! LoL. I’d like to say I’d have voted, but I’m Canadian, so I’d just be lying…
haHA!
yeah, this totally shouldn’t have been an off the record comment.
Obama was wrong to put himself in the flay of this drama. Stick to politics and get the health care reform pushed through.
Did you even read the parts of this post where it’s explicitly stated that President Obama made an off-the-record comment that a reporter (a very well respected one, I might add) dubiously made public? Do you actually expect the president to stick to talking about political issues off-the-record?
Flay? Booby Flay? Or Fray?
Freudian Slip. *Bobby Flay*.
OMG do you even have all the facts before you make these stupid comments…he was asked what his children thought of the incident and then asked what he thought of West..what did you want him to say…”I am not allowed to talk about anything but politics until I leave office”…earth to whatever your name is….
Beet, you know Obama only said that because Kanye’s black, right?
:P
Hey fool…Obama didnt say that because Kanye’s black, he said it because Kanyes an idiot…what is with all this racial bullshit…your race doesnt make you ignorant, stupid, innapropriate, intelligent, cute, narcissistic, agreeable, pleasant, etc etc etc…its all the things you learned in your life, thats a choice, your nationality isnt…so STOP this racial nonsense, its ridiculous already….I wasnt brought up like that and everytime I read this crap, I just think what a little world you and people like you live in….there are a whole lot of wonderful people from all different backgrounds, and you racists are missing out on alot of great experiences and friendships because of your small minded thinking.!!!!!!!!!!!!!! grow up
Kanye should be ashamed of himself! And I bet Terry Moran is looking for another job right about now. How unprofessional!
Kanye West likes fishsticks.
Everything to say about this article’s been said…but can i say i love that an official apology used the phrase “tweeted” as opposed to “posted on the social networking site Twitter” or whatever official crap
I think the president has no business making any sort of back handed pop culture commentary; on or off the record. it was a loaded question, and he should have been more presidential. they set him up and he fell for it: again. remember when he called the cops stupid concerning Gates, only to have to back track those comments. I think he should be more thoughtful in his comments, refrain from name-calling (so third grade) and have more dignity for the office he holds. I don’t think any other president would have been asked about a video awards show melee, and believe me, there is always some drama. he demeaned the office by calling any american, yes kanye is american, a name
I have to agree on this point. Everyone is putting the focus on the journalist and how unprofessional his actions were. Geez…I would expect the President to be more professional between the two.
Old fashion and rigid beliefs are fading. Nobody gives a rats ass that Obama says these things. You’re being left behiiiiind
“he demeaned the office by calling any american, yes kanye is american, a name” so have you heard of president Nixon???
Why didn’t he call Joe Wilon a Jackass?
Hahahahaha right on B.O.!