The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.ABC tweets Obama's 'jackass' comment about Kanye West
NEW YORK©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
39 Comments
Login to comment
ogtob
So what? It's true, Kanye is a Jackass.
kokorocloud
Well, now it's just that much more official You know you're a jackass if the president says so.
HonestDictator
Wait, everyone has right to free speech including the prez. As they said, it was off the record not in a speech, not in an interview etc. Off air time means OFF AIR. Jeez, someone always comes up with something "controversial" to be an ass. This isn't news.
smartacus
Obama should simply tell the next press conference: "I called West a jackass and he is. What's the big deal?"
tkoind2
What happened to the pride of the African American community and the timeless contributions that have been made to music? From the legends of Jazz to Nat King Cole and other stellar crooners to the founders of Funk, R&B and more. Where is the pride, the desire to inspire and the artistry that will last for decades?
This current batch of rapper morons are destroying what so many of our ancestors fought to establish as pride and a legacy of the black community. It has been replaced with these mass produced morons obsessed with sex, money and their own overinflated egos. All brought to you by record companies that wouldn't know real talent if it fell out of the sky an crushed them.
Kayne West is a Jackass and many of his peers are that and worst. I am very proud to hear that President Obama said so too. Good for him. We need African Americans we respect and are proud of to tell these loser rappers to straighten up their act. The next generation deserves better idols and icons to follow than these selfimportant twits.
gogogo
Kanye is an ass, he did exactly the same thing in 2004 and the MTV European awards, jumped on stage and said his video should have won best video because it cost 1 million dollars.
Raja Kumar
Kanye West and Taylor swift get more spotlight by press/public with more internet searches on them,with this incident.
Wolfpack
The dude's a jackass and a racist - the white girl won so he got upset and decided to do somethig about it. I doubt Obama's upset about that part though...
timorborder
What is it with the media and newly-installed Presidents. When Bush came to power, the media also treated him with kid gloves. He could do no wrong, even after 911 when elements of his administration (Cheney and Rumsfeld) were twisting US foreign policy to settle an old score with Saddam Hussein. It was only when the media got off their collective use of mind altering substances that the administration began to be held responsible for its actions.
The same is the case with President Obama. Although he started off talking about "change," recently I get the impression that he just likes talking. Give it a break. There are also issues related to his judgments regarding people, issues largely ignored by the mainstream media. Fox News (a seriously conflicted organization in its own right) seems to be the only agency to have raised issues related to the Van Jones appointment, etc.
Compared to such issues, however, this Kayne West episode is a joke. Indeed, I am worried that the President even has time to comment on the goings-on of the entertainment industry B list.
betterdays
Even Presidents are human and have time to comment on trivial issues...in this instance it was off the record a matter of idle chatter 2 fill up time
Noripinhead
And the way Obama said it was kind of endearing and gentle. Kind of like "Shoganai, he's a jackass."
adaydream
Obama's not the first president that has had his conversation overheard by someone else. This gaff might remind him of surroundings.
But Kanye West is a jackass. President was correct at least. < :-)
SezWho2
By most accounts, Kanye was a jackass. Also jackasses were the ABC employees who failed to follow proper lines of accountability when given access to privileged information. ABC should not simply apologize for their actions, it should fire them.
The question remains whether the President was a jackass for calling Kanye a jackass. I think not, but I agree that those who hold public office must know that what they say will--when possible--be used against them. People who have observed that things they did not say are blithely attributed to them and used against them should know this very well.
On the scale of "presidentiality", however, it is refreshing to find a president who feels comfortable enough in direct conversation to add a jocular (and popular) assessment of jackassedness after a seemingly interminable reign of a president who unawares seethes profanity into an open microphone.
smithinjapan
First off, for people like bushlover, it's a same he needs reminding that his the leader he names himself after made more gaffes than any leader in human history, most on record, and some completely heinous. Most very good entertainment though.
Second, Obama is twittering, which means he doesn't care if it's public.
Third, it's not that bad a thing he said, in particular because he's bang on. Kayne IS a jackass.
gogogo
smithinjapan: ABC twittered it not Obama himself.
Wolfpack: Yes I agree that Kanye thinks all black musical artists are more talented than others. I'm sure he's never even see Taylor Swift's video nor listened to one of her songs.
WayneRooney10
Watching Obama worshippers pimp for their hero is even more entertaining than the MTV awards ceremony or Kanye West!
LFRAgain
Jackass quote of the day.
Still, Obama was right. Whether he was aware that his conversation was being picked up or not doesn't change the fact that Kayne is indeed a monumental and proven jackass. Obama wasn't discussing US military secrets with John Harwood. He was discussing something public and broadly known. Neither harm nor foul here, as far as I'm concerned.
What I do find alarming is this part:
How in the world would these jackasses (now in vogue) at ABC with apparently enough free time on their hands that they can “tweet” during business hours, ever mistakenly assume comments made by a president during a break WERE on any record ? These are supposed to be journalism professionals. Instead, they sound more like gossiping Gerties.
What if it had been a comment with some political, economic, or military sensitivity, taken out of context and truncated for Twitter brevity? What if such a misreported comment had resulted in negative market repercussions? The possibilities are endless for how this kind of irresponsibility could have gone very wrong, very quickly. These so-called employees should be cleaning out their desk right about now, IMO.
Tweeting: Yet another example of the vast potential of technology rotting on the vine in favor of mind-numbing banality.
Midnightpromise
Takes one to know one is what I say, and who better to judge
Molenir
lol. Its a rare occasion when we agree on something, but in this instance you're right. He was at the very least correct about Kanye. Even if his saying so is completely and totally unPresidential. Like you I excuse him for the fact that every President in the Modern era has made some sort of Gaffe. Bush as Smith points out, was easily one of the worst offenders ever.
bobbafett
Obama should not have mentioned anything. That would have made West feel more significant than he already feels about himself.
smithinjapan
The oddest part about all this is calling it a 'gaffe', as though he slipped up or something. I for one think it's great that, off the record and not officially, the man uses the same lingo as you, me, and everyone else. It wasn't a mistake, and as has been said Obama was correct. The only 'social blunder' here (one of the criteria for 'gaffe') is that media listened in on an off-the-record conversation and let it be twittered without any kind of verification.
lostrune2
Haha! I think Obama just won a few votes in country music country.
Midnightpromise,
Ha! If it takes one to know one, then that makes most of America jackasses then! (Because, obviously, most of America do think Kanye was a jackass. Probably you too!)
Alphaape
As most of the familiar posters here may be aware, I am no big fan of Obama, but I think in this instance he really "hit the nail on the head" with this one.
He is right, Kanye West was an "a**hole" for messing up this muscian's moment. If he didn't like the results, just sing (and I use that term loosely) about it in his next song. He isn't really that important and I don't see why he thinks he has the right to mouth off his opinions to the world.
As for Obama, good for him. He called the guy and dirty name, it is still by far cleaner than what you would probably hear on TV or in any one of the many songs (rap, heavy metal, pop, etc) that you hear on the airwaves today. I guess President Harry S. Truman must be spinning in his grave since it has now come to a day when even the President can't call an "ahole and ahole" when he sees one.
I give Obama a pass on this one. Good on him for telling it like it really is. Now maybe he can keep doing that with the rest of his speeches. As for the media, so what. It must really be a slow news day if you have to report that the President curses.
Alphaape
Oops, correction to my previous post. Make that jackass instead of "a**hole" and when you come to think of it, in this case the words could be interchangeable.
lostrune2
Wait! Where's Obama's teleprompter! Ha!
nath
My mother used to call me a jackass, but it did nothing to hurt my heart. I think Obama should have said something, like, the chick is cute, sings well, and and should have given a quick swift kick to the guys groin and promise to write a song about him being...well...a jackass. That would have been a better tweet.
bushlover
Good comment Obama!! I hate Jackasses too especially ones that declare others to be racist without fully understanding. Typical knee jerk reaction by the peanut gallery. I'm with Obama on this one.
seijichuudo9sha
Props to Obama.Someone needs to teach Kanye a lesson.Of course,if bush had said this of a black performer I would be screaming "racist!" like no tomorrow.Hehehe.Hey,maybe there is some way Kanye can tie country music and Taylor Swift to Joe Wilson.I'm just sayin...
smithinjapan
bushlover: "I'm with Obama on this one."
Says the guy who says:
"Obama is a Jackassist. He hates all Jackasses. Even Black ones. Especially Black ones that have little talent which is proven when that Jackass talks. No wonder Jackasses rap. They don't have to speak in full sentences. I'm with Obama on this one. Jackasses, and especially these black ones that think they are super studs because they can grunt into a microphone deserve to be called what they are. In Obama's eyes a spade's a spade."
Simply amazing.
ca1ic0cat
Off the record so ABC pulled it and apologized? Oh come on. Anybody remember Regan's famous mike test "I've declared the Soviet Union...etc?" Everybody had fun with that gaffe. And what Obama said wasn't even a gaffe, it was spot on and with perfect syntax. Why is anybody apologizing for it? Then again, why do they invite West to these things? Probably just for the publicity stunts. Sounds more like Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction." I'll bet it was planned.
genkimark
I agree with President Obama!
usaexpat
Kanye to Obama: "dude I thought we were on the same team, I just couldn't let a white chick win without saying something" Fail: reverse racism is still racism and Kanye needs to go away.
RomeoRamenII
True. However, Obama - who's not even 100 percent black - called a black man a jackass and is being congratulated; but if a white politician said the same thing about Kanye West they'd be called a racist.
Besides, why is Obama saying anything publicly about entertainers and their actions? The fact that Obama made a public statement about something that happened at a self-indulgent, mindless MTV awards show speaks volumes about where his real priorities are.
bushlover
Kanye says Bush hates Black people, Obama says Kanye is a Jackass. It has come full circle. Obama respects Mr. Bush. You can see it in his supportive actions.
lostrune2
RomeoRamenII,
Obama wasn't making a public statement. It was off-the-record pre-interview conversation that some ABC employees listened on then put on their Tweets. Did you read the article?
And it has nothing to do with priorities. What Kanye did is all over the news. Most of America have opinions about it - and it doesn't take much time and effort to realize that Kanye was a jackass.
kinniku
As Obama says in the video clip (care of TMZ), 'Cut the president some slack.' Kanye was a jackass and Obama is correct in calling him one.