Video has emerged showing Barack Obama joking that black people are chronically late, a stereotype that has emerged in the wake of a controversy involving Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio performing a comedy skit which referred to “colored people’s time.”
It was 2007 and then-Illinois Sen. Obama was speaking to a group of black journalists. He opened his remarks by joking about questions over whether he was “black enough.” His late arrival to the event was evidence that he was, he quipped.
“I want to apologize for being a little bit late. But, you guys keep on asking whether I’m black enough,” Obama says in the video, which was discovered by Mediaite.
“Uh-huh! That’s right! So, I figured I’d stroll in about ten minutes after the deadline,” Obama continued to laughter.
“I’ve been holding that in my pocket for awhile.”
At Saturday’s event, de Blasio and Clinton made a similar reference to the same stereotype. After de Blasio introduced Clinton to the stage at the Inner Circle roast, the former first lady joked about the mayor’s delay in endorsing her for president.
De Blasio said that he was running on “CP time,” a reference to “colored people’s time.”
The audience groaned.
Clinton stepped in, joking that de Blasio meant “cautious politician time.”
But there are two main differences between Obama’s joke and the one told by Clinton and de Blasio over the weekend. First, Obama’s delivery was tighter and his timing was on point. Second, Obama is black, and Clinton and de Blasio are not.
On Tuesday, Clinton shifted blame to de Blasio for the joke. De Blasio has refused to apologize for it, saying that it was a satirical skit and that he is “pretty comfortable” with it.
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