I was prepared to throw an absolute hissy fit at Today’s Savannah Guthrie for asking some asinine questions of Pres. Obama during an exclusive interview, but then I discovered that the interview was pre-taped BEFORE the Boston Marathon bombings. So, while Guthrie is still kind of idiotic for asking questions about Beyonce and Jay-Z, she’s not AS idiotic as I originally thought.
As we discussed previously, Beyonce and Jay-Z went to Cuba for their fifth wedding anniversary. While there, Bey and Jay happened to be photographed walking the streets of Havana and generally looking like they were having a good time, being touristy in Cuba. Since 2011, the restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba have definitely been loosened, and the average Joe Citizen basically just has to get a special waver or pass from the Department of the Treasury to fly to Cuba. The Average Joe Citizen also has to explain why he or she is going to Cuba, and it can’t be “to do tourist things”. It has to be “educational” or something.
But! When the photos of Bey and Jay in Havana came out, Republicans threw a fit and demanded to know whether or not Pres. Obama sent Air Force One to pick up Jay and Bey so that they could spend their anniversary in a communist paradise on the taxpayer’s dime. Or whatever. It was mostly the Cuban-American GOP contingent making all the noise, and the Treasury Dept. released a statement basically saying that Bey and Jay traveled to Cuba as part of an “educational exchange” and everything was perfectly legal. The White House press secretary fielded some questions about it too, and he basically said, “Dude, seriously? Obama didn’t have anything to do with it.” Then Jay-Z released this song, “Open Letter”:
Jay seems to be challenging his critics with typical Jay-Z ‘tude. The song includes the line: “Boy from the hood but got White House clearance/Obama said, Chill. You’re gonna get me impeached./You don’t need this s— anyway, chill with me on the beach.” So… that’s where we were when Savannah Guthrie sat down with Pres. Obama, and of course she asked him about the trip. Of course. Obama’s answer was simple:
“I wasn’t familiar that they were taking the trip. My understanding is I think they went through a group that organizes these educational trips down to Cuba. This is not something the White House was involved in. We’ve got better things to do.”
Seriously. If this whole “Beyonce in Havana” kerfuffle doesn’t end with GOP Congressmen asking for a special prosecutor, I will eat my hat. All this shows is how our Cuba policy is just some dumb Cold War relic that should have ended more than a decade ago.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
They asked the President about that? We have real problems going on in this world. Ugh
Amen.
who are these dumb@sses asking this stupid sh!t
many Americans have lost their lives in the past few days. let’s try to focus on what is important, for the love of God.
But does Obama know why Beyonce’s thighs are always photoshopped like that?
Why bother the President with a question a first grader would know the answer to. Heres a hint, take a look at the thighs or lack thereof, on the androgenous persons photographed in the pages of any random magazine. Theres a serious attempt to erase overt feminity (round thighs being a key secondary characteristic identifying post pubescent females) in the media and shes simply the most obvious example of it. As far as i can tell she has a healthy body image, so i must assume that shes the victim here. I can see her being instructed to only take certain poses “to bring out all your other features” and being presented with photoshopped thighs and being tolm thats “hot”.
Shes a pop star ladies, she doesnt have nearly as much control on her image as you may think. Even if she did have final say over images she would be taking input from all sorts of parties, publicists, stylists, photographers, magazine editors, record company execs, all pushing against the natural thick thigh look. I have only sympathy for her and all curvy girls in that twisted industry,
Calm down Popcorn, I’m pretty sure Mimifarrow was joking about how “important” such questions are.
Yeah Popcorn, that was sarcasm…
I am responding to the thigh reference which frankly is a running theme for some. Obviously she doesnt expect the President to answer a question about a pop stars thigh. But the phrasing implies that Beyonce is the butt of the joke here as if she engineers the photo shopping as part of some great villainy. And im pointing out what should be obvious to anybody, this is the industry and she probably spends those shoots hearing how unideal that shape is. And no the feminist in me wont “calm down” (lol) and let an ignorant joke through. Once again re-photoshopping, she is the real victim.
That policy should be applied to other countries in worse situations if you ask me. I live in Miami and its out of control. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about equal chances for immigrants since I am one myself but they have a free pass when they get here. No deportation and unimaginable aide when they set foot here thanks to the first Cuban that arrived here first. Yes its a communist country with no resources but the new flock of Cuban immigrants now the system” better than the avg citizen and some feel there are privilaged and they don’t want to work. My point is that even though the island is poor and I do feel for those who fought for freedom they have the resources to move ahead without much work when they arrive here more so than any other third world country. The reason why the Cuban Republicans keep reminding us about the island and what happened 50 yrs ago is because they dont want to lose the special privilage of getting legal status in this country which in my opinon should be granted to any immigrant from a country thats in worse shape than Cuba.
Sorry needed to vent there….
What are you basing your comment off of? You’re generalizing a whole group of people off of the laziness of a few. Cuba isn’t just a poor country it’s far worse than you can imagine. My husbands family is still stuck there, he’s a successful business owner but all the money he has does nothing for them, there is a huge food shortage down there and people are actually starving to death no matter how much money we send to them they have nowhere to buy food from. Last time we were there his young cousins cried when I gave them apples because they had never seen or tasted one in their lives
well i mean, if jay z keeps playing up his friendship with Obama then yeah people are going to think its a special favor. if it were, i dont know, blake shelton going to cuba or christina aguilera (watching the voice on youtube right now) or any other celebrity without a close friendship/personal connection to the president no one would really make the assumption obama was involved.
This exactly. I’m a fan of Obama’s but he kind of created this problem for himself. When he was being criticized for being the “Celebrity Candidate” he should have backed off a bit. Wonder what this will do to their friendship though? I mean, Beyonce has power she can’t even comprehend but if she’s no longer tight with the leader of the free world, has she been demoted?
Jay Z and her are more annoying than I could have ever imagined. Ugh. Is. Right.
Thanks for clearing that up Obama. Now you can carry on. Geez
President Obama needs to stop allowing these fools to attend White House events to fake lip sink etc. it lends credence to the notion that he’s tight with them and tarnishes his image. He truly does have better things to do and JayZ should stop with the name checking braggadocio. It’s so over played at this point.
seriously. i dont know, a former felon who made his living calling women btches and using the N word repeatedly in songs about pimpin and such….really you are the company you keep. There are people out there who are actually making a real difference in the world that could use a spotlight just about now from our president.
Exactly right. And how that fool passed the requisite Secret Service background check to attend those events is beyond me.
FORMER being the operative word. do you go around calling mark wahlberg a violent thug for BLINDING his victim. NO. i bet you dont signify prince harry as a racist when you refer to him despite the NUMEROUS times he has been racist. I WONDER WHY THAT IS?!
but your gonna use what he did in his youth to mar him as a person. GROW UP.
His occupation is rapper, and if you knew anything about his career, which you obviously dont, or anything substantial about his music, which you obviously dont, then you would know that he has done MUCH more than ’rapping about b’s and n’s’. His use of the N word is irrelevant, he does not have to explain that word to you or anyone else. get over it.
his music covers a range of subjects, but you wouldn’t know that would you, as you are perfectly happy being ignorant about a rappers success and immediately identifying it with a few curse words. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. lets not get into the fact that he is an astute businessman and skilled lyricist. if you gonna come for someone, come correct. your comment SCREAMS of ignorance and elitism.
+1
I so agree.
It turns me off how cozy Obama has (seemingly) gotten with Beyonce and Jay-Z, mainly because I find those two to be completely insufferable.
Yes thank you!
I’m glad she asked because the Jay Z’s song took advantage of their “friendship.”
Right?! If anybody should be getting yelled at it is Jay Z. Not Obama and certainly not Samantha Gunthrie. Jay Z perpetuated the problem by releasing that song. Most people would’ve forgotten about the trip if it wasn’t for him!
Agreed.
“We’ve got better things to do.” Ain’t that the truth. It bugs the hell out of me that some elected officials are making a stink of this for political gain – if it’s a legit concern, by all means have it looked into. But all this grandstanding, while serious problems are being ignored, is just gross. And typical of politicians, I guess.
Same. I’m a huge Jay Z fan (Beyonce, not so much) but he’s become too big for his britches. And Beyonce with her air-pressure controlled vault?! People like Obama will be the figures that will stand the test of time and have libs etc dedicated to them one day. Not people like Beyonce and Jay Z. Get a grip guys
Jay Z seems to think he’s above it all and this is just the latest example. The Occupy Wall Street t-shirt was another peek at his arrogance. I don’t know…Kanye’s King of the Narcissists but Jay’s his heir, doing what he can to usurp that throne. ALL of them give me a headache.
Obama threw some definite mature shade, though. Well done.:-)
Well put – “mature shade”. 🙂
Agree with everyone thankyou workdog for reminding all about that occupy wall street t-shirt incident – arrogance and narcissism combined. Voted for Obama twice but very disappointed he palls with these two narcissistic one per centers – They have no substance or values other than self-promotion, what can he and the First Lady see in them?
Maybe Obama will distance his self from the dumb ass Carters now. I don’t know any other celebs that act like they are “friends” with the President but these two. I’m glad he said he had more important things to worry about then them.
Regardless, I would be surprised if their relationship with Jay and Bey isn’t burnt after this. I understand Jay was mad about how this was blown up, but guess what? Sometimes, you have to suck it up and not bring the president into it. I’m sure Beyonce will be *thrilled* to be replaced at future White House events as the Obamas favorite singer.
It’s good to know what are the priorities and important stuff going on in the world… Jeeeez…
Everything about Beyonce and Jay-Z annoys me. Self-entitled arrogant prats.
Everyone knows Beyonce’s body doesn’t look like that. Very good photoshopping.
They should have stayed in Cuba forever! Cannot stand those two anymore. Blah!
“We’ve got better things to do.” I love him.
Most presidents have an idiot brother embarrassing them and using their names to legitimize any piddle and crap they feel like pulling on any given day. I guess this is almost that.
Air Force One? All of that faux outrage says one thing: I don’t understand the basics of these processes but I’m still an expert. You just blew his secret communist plot in which the White House wasn’t involved and took place right in the open air wide open. You must have advanced degrees in ‘looking’. Ye gods.
Samantha’s question was completely ‘wack’, as we used to say. Any day of the week. There may not have been any homegrown devastation on that particular day but there was somewhere so please let the people do their jobs. Brain-starved question, always and forever.
Jay, were you present during any part of your own application and approval process to see that the president wasn’t involved in any capacity? Did you see any authorization on your papers that said, ‘We made it thru da rain, dawg. Nuttin’ but Hennessy up in my House, now, son! This is MY House! Prez 4 lyfe, Barack-a-fella? ‘ Did you? Do you know where you are right now? Do you think it’s your job to inform the ‘haters’ that the president is always going to do you a solid because you both came up from ‘the streets’ and it’s a new era of fist-bumping and quo-busting and the man just has to deal with your deluxe apartment in the sky?
Coming up from adversity in and of itself is admirable, but you’re the guy who did it by switching over from calling women bitches and hos to their faces to doing it through song. He’s the president and there’s a difference. He’s not your sidekick, he’s not your homie and he’s not your hype man so show some respect by shutting up about it and stop thinking that you can do anything for him other than make him look silly by exploiting some non-existent special bond you have with him. You’ve met a famous person a few times, that’s it. You think Cece Penniston was on Pope John Paul II’s speed dial after her gospel group sang for him on request? Are members of your fan club going to get special perks from you or does the ‘you scratch my back, you scratch mine’ mentality only apply when you believe you can stand to profit from someone else’s power and position? Your song made it worse!
B. Do your cheeks hurt? All of that deference is going to hurt come winter. Watch your hands, I remember this one time when this one guy od’ed on ‘forced demure’ and his hands got stuck and they had to take them off. Better stock up on lozenges, I hear they’re a wonder for phantom pain.
Church!
Why ugh? That’s typical question when it comes to interviewing Obama.