Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Barack Obama Makes Special Olympics Joke on Leno

For the first time ever, Jay Leno interviewed a sitting U.S. President on The Tonight Show. And it’ll probably be the last time, after Obama made his first major PR gaffe as President. Obama said he recently bowled a 129. Leno responded, sarcastically, “Oh, that’s very good, Mr. President.” Obama quipped back with, “It’s like Special Olympics or something,” and then laughed.

At this point, Leno basically freezes. You can tell he realizes that this is an enormous mistake on the part of Obama, and isn’t sure how to handle it. He decides to play along and disregard the comment. If this had been a less beloved President — say, oh, George W. Bush — you better believe Leno would have stopped right there and made a fool of him. But he tried to cover for President Obama as best he could.

Sheesh, even I know better than to make Special Olympics jokes. It’s just one of those things that my brain is hard-wired to stop. Like, I’ll feel one coming out, and my brain is just reflexively like, “No, Beet. No Special Olympics jokes. Those hurt feelings and get us into trouble.” Plus, I find that whenever I want to make a joke about the mentally disabled, I can substitute Lindsay Lohan and the joke still works. It’s a neat trick.

Expect an apology from President Obama’s camp tomorrow.

51 CommentsLeave a comment

  • A slip of the mask from The Obama Deception;
    A Freudian Slip.

    Uncle Sam or Uncle Tom?

  • He should have made it more clear

    “129 is a good school if I was one of those retards in the Special Olympics”

    Now THAT would have rocked.

    This is just yawn

  • Oh, get over it. haha, I liked Jays facial expressions. It’s the Tonight show and it’s all in good fun.

  • er, I know that the comment was rude in principle, but I do not think that he meant it as that at all. I think that secretly, a lot of people may have chuckled at this if it were their personal friend saying it. But as a current president, he’s gotta be a PC version of “laid-back” I guess.

    I hope it doesn’t get a lot of public outcry, simply because we have bigger things to attend to, and so does he, than wasting his time doing an apology speech.

  • Has anyone from the ‘special’ community actually said they were offended? Or are we just assuming they will be?

      • You know, Anonymous, the Special Olympics aren’t necessarily for people with Downs! Many people with physical disabilities are competing as well.

    • That’s what I want to know. I know people who would be considered “special”, and they typically have a great sense of humor about their disabilities. Plus, I’m sure people recognize that this was not meant with ill intentions.

  • It was stupid, he should say he is sorry and move on. No matter what you say, or who you are someone is always waiting to be offended. My guess some Republicans are going to beat the hell out of him, with some Dems standing up for him, until something else happens 24 hours from now. My problem is with talking head pundits and policy-wankers (you know those people will be out and about all over cable news about this) who start attacking him or defending him. If he had a R in front of his name instead of a D the people attacking him and defending him would change sides. This is just an example of what happens to him without a teleprompter, but not a sign he’s the Anti-Christ. it’s going to be OUTRAGE…COUNTER-OUTRAGE…OUTRAGE… Friday morning on the cable news shows.

  • He shouldn’t apologize for that. I make fun of Lindsay Lohan all the time and I’d never feel the need to say I’m sorry for it.

    Beet’s right. Replacing the word “retards” with “Lindsay Lohan” works perfectly in situations like these.

  • So, we should say this was no big deal. Ok.
    Note to self: Publicly making derogatory jokes about minority groups = A-OK in Obamaworld.

    No, wait. Hmm.

  • it’s a matter of culture
    the way I see it, it’s sort of something one says among friends, without major consequences
    I would not, but probably I do other things that are not appropriate,
    but…..he’s the President of the US
    he CAN’T have this kind of speech
    he also can’t say “I screwed it up”, because it’s not good for the image of the President of the US
    as President, he ought to mind his words a lot more,
    I hope he’s a good one
    because he doesn’t strike me as particularly gifted with spontaneous words

  • He made an innocent mistake, a bad joke… make a statement that it was an off the cuff remark and that it in no way was intended to hurt anyone and sorry if it did…next month do a special olympics special appearance… no bowling though…

    But, yes, the liberal media would have beat the piss out of Bush on the spot if he said that… well, he would never have been invited for the sweet little sitdown to begin with. Sorry, Obama, this is what happens when you try to “keep it real”. Just sayin’

  • I think Obama also realized the faux pas. Because he sort of got quieter when he said it.

    I saw the interview last night and other than that, he did extremely well and had me cracking up. I do think it was a comment that warrants an apology. As our leader he should set a precedent.

    I think he should have a competition against the best Special Olympics bowler. It would be great press and also get the word out that Special Olympics is a great program. Who knows? Maybe the number of volunteers will shoot up?

    • Agreed, he realized it too late, as it was coming out of his mouth. That’s why he kind of mumbled it and I didn’t even catch it last night.

  • When you’re the prez, you can’t make special olympics jokes on television! You can make those jokes if you’re Johnny Knoxville, but not if you’re the prez.
    I can sit at home and wait for the blind guy to fall off the stage on American Idol, but if I’m Ryan Seacrest, I’m gonna get crap if I say something like that on televison.
    Can’t say the f word on tv, can’t make retard jokes if you are running the country. Pure and simple-it was a sophisticated retard joke.

  • Oh, get over it. This guy’s human-REMEMBER? I know America has been treating him like some kind of JESUS CHRIST but he is indeed just a man.

  • i watched leno last night and didnt even realize he said this. it wasnt until this morning when i read all kinds of shiz about on all four corners of the internet. i bet the majority of people would have missed it to if it werent pointed out. and there already was an apology yesterday before it even aired.

  • Amazing how he can get away with a comment like that, but right away it’s a racist comment if something is said about food that is named after him.

  • While I don’t think he meant anything malicious we all know that if he were a WHITE republican people would be protesting in the streets. What a crock this country is…..so blatantly racist against whites but everyone has their heads in the sand and refuse to address it. I’m still wondering why Beet and the other gossip bloggers aren’t covering the racist hate crime at the Britney Spears concert in Newark. Two white guys attacked by a mob of blacks shouting racial slurs. Hmmmm.

    (the bloggers are terrified of being called “racist”)

    • AMEN SISTA!!!! You are exactly right! But, unfortunately you are preaching to the choir. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it! The question is, what do we do to change it! For the first time, we have a black president! Things are ripe for change! The new white saying needs to be “IT’S BECAUSE IM WHITE”! I have a lot of examples. Visit my site and you can read them.

      http://breedtruth.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-happened-to-me.html#comments

      I hadn’t heard about the Britney Spears thing. I’ll have to go check it out!

  • So, you can make that comment among friends if it isn’t intended as derogatory, but if you’re president you have to remain stiff and reserved? I beg to disagree. By going on Leno in a relaxed, informal situation, you tend to let down your guard a bit and are more prone to make a misstep such as this. However, as president, you also show you’re still a man of the people, more human, more in touch with ordinary people. It wasn’t meant in a mean way, but I fully expect the Republicans to jump on it, and I’m sure we’ll hear some flack — probably including some remarks about how hurtful that was to Sarah Palin… like she’d watch Jay Leno or Obama.

    I think if this is the worst he does, we’ll be ok. Keep in mind, the last guy in this job… BROKE THE WORLD!!! People, please…

    • Maris, you had me right up until the end! I agree with everything you said. One of my top complaints about the country is that it has become too politically correct! People are more worried about what others say rather than what they do. People, even Obama, are people. They make errors because they are only human. I also think the fact that he was even willing to go on Jay Leno speaks a lot about his character. He is willing to get down in the dirt with other America instead of just standing above everyone and pointing. WAY TO GO OBAMA! Im no lover of African Americans but I like Obama. For example, at places like Wal-Mart you can be coached and or up to being terminated for saying things that are not politically correct even if those things are true! That’s how the whole country is. Its more worried about someone saying something that might somehow be OFFENSIVE to someone else. SO WHAT! People need to be judged because of their actions, not if their words might be seen as offensive, as long as they are the truth!

      The whole broken world thing. Maris, the world was broken long before Bush was even born! At least Bush had the guts to try to do something about it! Not everyone can be the greatest president of all! Of course I’m refering to Bill Clinton! That’s all Im going to say about the matter!

      • What bothers me about the whole political correctness thing is that the lack of fairness surrounding it. Blacks can say any racist thing about whites, asians, jews, gays ect. and no one says a word but if a white person says anything preceived as racist, even if it wasn’t intended to be, the whole country goes apeshit. So I guess it really isn’t about protecting people’s itty bitty feelings, it’s really an excuse to break white balls. It’s disgusting that the media keeps feeding into this by giving coverage to these whiny assholes. It’s high time white America and others who have been slandered by this got their balls back.

  • I don’t think it’s right that Leno tried to cover for him, but any other pres he would have made a fool out of. Favoritism, much??

    • Are you saying he would have “made a fool” of Bush? Personally, I think Bush didn’t need Leno’s help with that — that’s ONE thing he did perfectly well all on his own. A case of sour grapes, much??

  • Sheeesh……. 30 minutes of incredibly articulate and informed words from Obama, and this is what we focus on.

    Rome is on fire…. where’s that dang fiddle?

  • Wow……I cannot believe he went there!!! For the record, my uncle who has downsyndrome is in a bowling league and he breaks 200 almost every game. Most of the people who participate in the special olympics would probably beat obama in every single category. Way to think before you speak mr prez.

  • Oh my gosh people!!!! It was a mistake! I’m sure that he really doesn’t feel that way. I bet you money that ALL of you have said things a HELL of a lot worse than that! So, put your bras back on and go sweep your own porch before you try to go sweep your neighbors! Is he held to a higher level of responsability because he is the President? Yes, is he unfallable? NO! Peole, there are children starving in the world and in the United States. There are people being beheaded and killed an tourtured in the world! And you all want to hark on the fact that he made a fopah? YOU ALL NEED TO GET SOME PROSPECTIVE!

      • Sorry, Dizz, for the misspelling! Someone ELSE had already got me fired up and fingers just got to fliying! Ill try to do better next time.

  • I agree with you Lorelei to a point! He hasn’t been President long enough to say AlWAYS, about anything he has done. But he does seem to know what is going on, he is a hard worker and atleast he is trying! I admire him for going on the Tonight Show. To me he is showig that he feels like he is no better than anyone and he is willing to get down and dirty with everyone else. I think it is ashamed, like someone else said, that he hade a 30 minute articulate converstation and the only thing anyone seemed to get out of it was this one little comment that he mistakenly said! It just goes to show what the real problem in this country is! I also think the amount to positive responses compared to the negative ones shows that people are ready for change.

  • Blind devotion allows you all to 4-give Obama- you would have flipped at Bush- how hypocritical, yes the “special people” ARE pissed!