President Obama reportedly calls Kanye West ‘jackass’
Published: September 15, 2009
Updated 5 months ago
UPDATE: Audio surfaces of Obama calling Kanye West ‘a jackass’
Celebrity news Web site TMZ.com has obtained an audio clip of President Obama’s CNBC interview in which he called rapper Kanye West a “jackass.”
Asked for his thoughts on West giving Taylor Swift “the Joe Wilson treatment,” Obama replied: “I thought that was really inappropriate. I mean, she’s getting an award, what are you butting in? I hear ya, I agree with ya. … The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person, she’s getting her award. Why did he do that? He’s a jackass.”
Apparently realizing the stir his remark created, Obama added: “come on guys, cut the president some slack. I’ve got a lot of other stuff on my plate.”
–Original report follows–
President Barack Obama appears to have dubbed Kanye West a “jackass” in off-the-record comments posted by an ABC News anchor Monday night.
Weighing in on an interruption made by the singer during the MTV Music Awards Monday, where West grabbed the mic from country music singer Taylor Swift, Obama appears to have echoed a relatively universal irritation.
“Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential,” “Nightline” co-anchor Terry Moran wrote Monday to his followers on Twitter.
But because the remarks were supposed to be off the record, ABC quickly pulled them, and issued an apology.
“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,” ABC said in a statement.. “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.”
Moran’s tweet was deleted, but is still accessible here.
On Monday night, West reappeared on the premiere episode of “The Jay Leno Show” to apologize for interrupting Taylor Swift at the MTV awards ceremony.
This video is from NBC’s The Jay Leno Show, broadcast Sept. 14, 2009.
Download video via RawReplay.com
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Obama don’t like black people.
Integrity in Journalism is DEAD. MSM sucks and I am glad the polls reflect that there is ever-dwindling trust in who they are, what they do and say.
What happened to “fact-based” news? What is this editorial bullshit that is constantly being thrown at us? Since when does “off the record” translate into “please tweet this as soon as you leave the room”?
True journalism died with Walter Cronkite.
americans wouldn’t know “true” journalism if it bit them in the ass.
After 8 years and more, the MSM should go ahead and leave their head up their ass…Nightline has been no more than a jazzed up TMZ for years now and this is their “break-out” nooze flash…now that we have a really well organized web presence of responsible journalists and non-profit watchdogs, etc., who would ever want to go back to relying on the MSM for anything but “vapid meaningless elevator video”.
Terry Moron, star of “elevator video” please stick to this sort of shit, it’s the least harmful exercise you can lend yourself to. Let the grown ups take care of the serious shit, ie., Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, Huff Post, Media Matters, TPM, Bill Maher, John Stuart, Crooks and Liars, BradBlog, The Washington Note, PBS, Tavis Smiley, David Letterman, Steven Colbert …you know, the list goes on and on…let’s hope you don’t. In fact, let’s see you pull some shit like this on Jessie Ventura…he’s slap the taste out of your mouth like that other rube, John Stossel.
“That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again.”
The first step needed is to fire Moran. Then you need to tell your employees that “playing around on the internet at work is not acceptable”, and educate your employees as to how the real world works. Them fucking around on “social networking sites” is not something they can do at work, they are not supposed to be socializing, they have jobs to do.
This is why the Mass Media has failed so miserably in this country. Idiots screwing around and trying to get attention like some 4 year old instead of doing their jobs.
And it seems a pretty “partisan” tweet given the recent uproar over a Congressmen acting like a 4 year old just the other day; unable to contain himself or accept truth into his thick head. “Now THAT’S presidential”? WTF..? Now the President, behind closed doors (that’s what an off the record conversation is, right?) can’t call someone out for their behavior? It sure seems like the kind of moronic thinking I see from most of my right-wing coworkers.. logic and reason don’t seem to live anywhere near their brains. Breaking decorum during a full blown address of Congress and yelling out something that is false and shows the yeller to be a moron is _nothing_ like calling someone a jackass behind closed doors.. and there is nothing about calling someone a jackass that is “non-presidential” on its own, either. Unless, of course, Terry Moron [sic] also tweeted how “unbecoming the office” it was for the Dick to tell a Congressmen to go fuck himself, on the floor of Congress.
It’s not off the record if some asshole journalist then makes it a matter of public record, now is it?
Bush reportedly calls McCain ‘a five-spiral crash,’ and says Palin ‘not remotely prepared’
And we’re supposed to worry about Obama’s personal feelings about an asshole like Kanye West?
Celebrity sells, eh?
West must want to be a politician because he has the technique down pat:
Fuck up then apologize with pseudo-contrition.
Did i miss something??? does this BS rank discussion because all the things that really matter have been dealt with?
If the President did say that then he has more intelligence than he has been showing lately so Im guess that could be the point of the story…
Nice that this prez can stand up to a second rate pop star, yet can never stand up to right wing thugs.
Way to go Obama, stand up for things that don’t really matter….
When your right your right and this time Obama is right on. West did make a complete ass of himself and did Rep. Wilson. Taylor Swift won and all should be proud of the success of the young lady. But don’t forget Beyonce a black woman with class had to show the World we still have respect and manners. As for Mr. West’s comment about Bush not liking Black people. Well we didn’t need him to say it as we watched thousands of poor whites and blacks asking for help on TV. We got to see on channel 4 a black lady in a wheel chair die as thousands were standing outside the Super Dome. We even got to see people being shot while crossing the bridge to safety. So for those that say Kanya West said it I saw we had already saw it long before he announced it. Look for more idiots to rush for the spot light by saying stupid and ignorant things as Serena took on John McEnroe’s actions, Rep. Wilson made History and Kanya West just continued be ignorant and should be assigned a babysitter at the next awards.
Note to Terry Moran: Twitter certainly has changed things hasn’t it?
That Raw Story even focusing attention on this bullcrap is telling, at the direction that RS has gone over the last few years. If it is trite, sophomoric, and distracting from important issues, count on RS to be right down in the muck like the rest of MSM covering the trite. Now to comment on the trite, the distraction…I wonder if Moran was all in a Twitter, when Dick Cheney said “f__k you!” on the floor of the Senate. Oh yeah, Twitter wasn’t Twittering way back then.
This is about a fucking talentless douche who sings songs about ‘drunk and hot girls’ and how to fuck them, mmkay? It’s not news, it’s fucking barf.
Kanye West’s Taylor Swiftboating.
this gutless president, who i once supported, calls kanye a jack-ass, yet he kowtows and does nothing about bush and cheney who are responsible for the greatest amount of misery, sadness, death and destruction on this entire planet in the last decade.
disgusting and pathetic!
obama — grow some balls, call it like it is — and fucking throw these criminals in jail!!!
West is nothing more than a punk ass piece of crap. He can barely speak English and the morons who also have no idea how to construct a sentence are cheering this asshole to the stage.
Leno tells applauds this slime bucket for carrying through on his commitment? I wouldn’t have had this asshole on my show in the first place. I’m not getting down on Leno since he doesn’t book the guests, but he has to have some say on who steps onto his stage.
dotmafia–Ditto your comment on no balls Obama–I would also include his spineless advisers: Axelord and Emanuel; and the worthless weak knee Democratic Party!
I think the President merciful calling kanye a jackass. Kanye is actually quite boorish.
even the president of the united states is entitled to his opinion…west was out of line, and he knows it. (which is more than Rep Wilson is today?)
Kanye IS a jackass… what’s the big deal?