“When I was a kid, I lived in a country where people couldn’t accept a black quarterback”, he said in his closing bit at Saturday night’s annual White House Correspondents Dinner in the nation’s capital.
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Wilmore, on his Comedy Central show Monday, noted: “Like the president himself, the reaction was mixed”, a joking reference to Obama’s black father and white mother. “And now to live in your time, Mr. President, when a black man can lead the entire free world”, Wilmore said.
Wilmore, pivoting sharply, took a moment to acknowledge the seriousness of the N-word, but also clarified that there was a difference between “n*gga ” and “n*gger” as Piers proclaimed he had said.
But others say Wilmore’s poor reception had more to do with the audience than the jokes, and that we may look back on his performance with greater appreciation.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest explained at a briefing yesterday that, in short, Obama is cool with the joke and thought it was amusing.
Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart, who is black, wrote that he recognized that Wilmore was coming from a place of pride. “Just by the nature of the engagement, that’s a tough job, following the president of the United States”, said Earnest.
“Okay, That’s terrible. I would never do that”.
President Barack Obama is also feeling Kobe Bryant’s absence with Bryant’s send off message making its impression on the US President.
As his speech wound down, Wilmore paused to express his appreciation for Obama’s tenure, and what it meant for him to see incremental progress on racial issues.
He thinks he may have lost the room when he said, “Speaking of drones, how is Wolf Blitzer still on television?”
But Wilmore said he actually said the word “n***a” – a more casual pronunciation. “We had so much fun the last time”.
In the interview, Cuomo pressed Trump on this point: “So that’s why you didn’t go? Don Lemon is here, too”.
Wilmore said the one-fingered salute was the kind of response he appreciated as a comic. But Wilmore imparts some advice for his future columns.
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Earlier in The Nightly Show, Wilmore brushed aside a rebuke from Piers Morgan, who took umbrage with the host’s word choice, but failed to “properly conjugate that slur” in his own article.
