A White House reporter sparred with Today News Africa White House correspondent Simon Ateba who derailed the beginning of Monday’s briefing.
Ateba derailed the beginning of the briefing as Jean-Pierre introduced the cast of Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” to discuss the importance of mental health. Ateba yelled out that she is obligated to call on him despite if she likes his line of questioning, causing an uproar from his colleagues.
White House columnist Brian Karem told Ateba to “mind [his] manners” and respect his fellow colleagues in the briefing room.
“Karine, you can’t keep discriminating against some people in the briefing room because you don’t like them,” Ateba said. “You have discriminated against me and a number of other people in briefing room and I’m saying that that’s not right. This is not China, this is not Russia, this is the United States, this is the White House.”
“Shut up!” one reporter shouted.
“The [White House] Press Corps is tired of dealing with this,” Karem said.
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“It’s not like you get questions all the time and you don’t have to sit here for eight months and being discriminated against,” Ateba argued. (RELATED: Simon Ateba Singlehandedly Implodes Biden’s Big Visit With Ted Lasso)
“Don’t make assumptions about what the rest of us do, mind your manners when you’re in here, and if you have a problem, you bring it up afterwards,” Karem continued.
“I’m saying that you shouldn’t discriminate against some people because you don’t agree with their question,” Ateba continued.
“You’ve made your point,” Karem said.
Jean-Pierre threatened to end the briefing if this behavior continued and said “disrespecting” colleagues and the guests will not be tolerated.
“What had just occurred this last ten, fifteen minutes is unacceptable,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’re either going to continue the briefing or we can just end the briefing right here.”