This didn’t sit well with some people, like Piers Morgan (or “professional Beyonce disliker”), who quoted Wilmore as saying, “Yo Barry, you did it, my n***er”, in a column criticizing Wilmore for the Daily Mail. “Then for him to be able to sort of go into vernacular and mean it from the bottom of his heart and for the president to greet him, meet him there halfway and for them to have that embrace, I just thought was deeply powerful”.
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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.
Obama hugged and Wilmore after his remarks, but the use of the n-word drew harsh criticism.
On Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he talked with Obama, and Obama appreciated the spirit of racial progress Wilmore was trying to convey. “Many people supported it. And like the president himself, the reaction was mixed”.
More so than his many of his jokes about Ted Cruz and the Zodiac Killer, it was Wilmore’s use of the word that had much of the Internet up in arms. While some people applauded Wilmore’s speech, which made sharp attacks on the media for things like, oh, facilitating Donald Trump’s presidential run, he clearly got under people’s skin. “I am confident that Larry will receive the ultimate recognition for his work: Never being invited back”. Very important. “N**ger” is what white people use to denigrate, demean and dehumanize black people. “I think over the course of President Obama’s presidency, our notions of “respectability politics” has shifted”, he said.
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Obama and members of the press at the 2016 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
