Obama Apologizes for Special Olympics Comment!
As we mentioned earlier, President Barack Obama appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday night.
During the interview, Obama made a "joke" about his bowling skills being crap, comparing it to the Special Olympics. And, of course, that has angered many people.
It was also just a matter of time before the heads of the Special Olympics spoke out.
An official statement has just been released from the Special Olympics Chairman, Timothy Shriver, Maria's brother.
The release says:
"President Obama called last night and expressed his regret and he apologized. He said that he did not intend to humiliate Special Olympics athletes or people with intellectual disabilities. He was sincere and heartfelt, and said that he is a fan of our movement and is ready to work with our athletes to make the United States a more accepting and welcoming country for all people with special needs.
Words hurt and words matter. Words can cause pain and result in stereotypes that are unfair and damaging to people with intellectual disabilities. And using 'Special Olympics' in a negative or derogatory context can be a humiliating put-down to people with special needs.
This is a teachable moment for our country. We are asking young people, parents and leaders from all walks of life to engage in conversation and help dispel negative caricatures about people with intellectual disabilities. We believe that it's only through open conversation and dialogue about how stereotypes can cause pain that we can begin to work together to create communities of acceptance and inclusion for all.
Special Olympics is not a program, but a worldwide movement operating 30,000 events a year in more than 180 countries. Every one of them is a chance for people of all ages to get involved, to think differently about attitudes and perceptions they may have about people with intellectual disabilities, and to make a difference.
And so we challenge people to join our 'Spread the Word to End the Word' campaign, a youth-led national awareness effort that will launch on March 31, where we are asking people to pledge their respect for people with special needs. We're asking people to sign our 'R-word' pledge, to join in our Unified Sports programs, to volunteer, and to be fans of our athletes and our movement.
Additionally, we challenge policy leaders at all levels to commit to improving the support and resources for people with intellectual disabilities in areas such as healthcare, education, housing and recreation.
Finally, we invite the President to take the lead and consider hiring a Special Olympics athlete to work in the White House. In so doing, he could help end misperceptions about the talents and abilities of people with intellectual disabilities, and demonstrate their dignity and value to the world."
We do give Obama a lot of credit for calling right away to apologize and clear things up the night it happened.
Talk about quick damage control!
What do U think of it all?
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He works better with his trusty teleprompter.
true….. but it was funny and probably wouldnt have been a huge thiing if anyone else had said it :/
Fuck that, he can't fart without apologizing……..It was funny……..
It was not that serious, people!! Get your panties out of a bunch!!!!!
If this were President Bush - or any republican- you would be calling for his resignation and this would be drawn out into a huge media circus.
Tim I hear there's going to an opening at Sec. of treasury real soon.Maybe one your peeps could do a better job at that position
Had this been Bush making the comment the media, you and everyone else would be calling for his resignation or head on a platter. Want to know the real Obama, he was on the Tonight Show last night, making that candid comment without his telemprompter
What's better than winning the gold at the Special Olympics???
…………..
Not being there………..
tool.
He needs a handler at all times.
I'm glad this happened because its total evidence that liberals can do whatever the hell they want and followers will look the other way. If those same words came out of McCain's mouth Perez's headline would probably be "JOHN MCCAIN HATES DISABLED PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Typical double standard bull shit.
Re: Long Dong Connery – lmao.
Obama…..FIRE YOUR EDITOR……
I think everyone needs to stop being so ridiculously sensitive. If I got upset everytime I heard a blonde joke or a joke demeaning women, I would never be happy! lighten up everybody! Having said that, the Special Olympics is a wonderful organization and Obama did the right thing.
Bush would have been CRUCIFIED had he said it!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's nice to have a president who ADMITS when he's wrong. Once he realized the error he apologized and admitted it and made the call himself. Good going President Obama!
omgshh it was just a "JOKE" clam ur balls ppls….
I think he is a moron.
I GUESS AFTER BEING THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE WORLD FOR THE PAST 8 YEARS NOTHING IS FUNNY ANYMORE.
Perez, if GW had said something like that last year you would be shouting "off with his head"
i think he already has a "special" employee - Geithner.
Somehow, I think if he'd compared it to the Gay Games you'd be a little less forgiving and a little more concerned with being PC. Just a guess. Amazing how fluid your standards of what is acceptable are.
I was less upset by what he said than by the double standard reaction. I think the comment was inappropriate. Many people have said "come on, who hasn't said something like this" but that truly isn't the point. The rest of us aren't the President on national television. He IS held to a different standard. Do I think he meant anything harmful or negative by this statement? Not at all. I'm not an Obama supporter, but I find it hard to be upset with him. I just hope he learns from his mistake. AND he did realize, or someone in his PR dept, that he should apologize immediately. Instead, what sickens me is that if it had been another political figure that had made that comment, they would have been crucified. Obama should not be held to a different set of standards because he himself is part of a minority or part of the liberal party.
The more he is off teleprompter, the more of this we are going to see!!!
Re: Long Dong Connery – #8 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I think republicans say, do, and think shit like this all day long and never apologize and never say peep and get re-elected (remember that fuckface from the south who made that Mukaka statement or whatever). It's like people using the word "retarded" even though it's frowned upon. I can forgive Obama for this, he should be more careful, yadda yadda yadda, but the wingers are lob this back and forth over the net for as long as they can ’cause they got NOTHING ELSE ON HIM.
THE ONLY PEOPLE MAKING THIS A BIG DEAL ARE THE LOSERS REPORTING IT. LIVE AND LAUGH!
I don't think he hates anybody or meant any real harm. I just think he forgets the magnitude of his power and calling from time to time and if you watched Leno you can see that he is still in transition when it comes to his new position.
He is just a man but I do think he acted quickly and did a good job deferring anymore negative attention.
NEXT LARDASS>>>>>OLD NEWS>>>>>>>>>>
Re: URnot1stdumbass – #24 Love your screen name!!!!
Good call!
totally funny. people have no sense of humor… which i find ironic.. since humor would seem to help you get through living with retardation or a disability.. or someone close to you afflicted with either.
I think you are quick to judge anyone you don't like and are quick to defend anyone you do like, no matter what kind of bad things they've done.
Nobody died as a result of Obama making a special olympics joke. Get over it.
I don't wiwwy wike Obamskies :-/
Perez, why do you want to lick Obama's ass so much!!!!! He doesnt even want to support gay marriage.
he winced right after he said it.. you could tell that he immediately regretted his comment
i think their are MORE FUCKING IMPORTANT THINGS TO DEAL WITH.
jesus christ,
am i the only one who is aware of the state of our economy right now?
Re: girl interrupted – Right on Hottie……
What a half ass apology!
I DONT LIKE HIM AND HE SHOULD NEVER HAVE SAID THAT
He shouldn't have had to apologize for shit. And for all the "if Bush had said it" crowd, no it wouldn't have been a big deal if he had said it because everyone knows Bush was a fucking retard, anyways.
Oh for fuck's sake, people need to grow a thicker skin. Political correctness is getting out of control these days.
well at least he learned this early on — I'll be he won't be on any more talks shows any time soon!
WHAT A RETARD!
OBAMA SUCKS!
OH PLEASE,words hurt only if you let them. All this PC shite has got way out of control…FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
People certainly need to get over it. I would have probably missed it, if the news hadn't gone apeshit over it.
Run Forest Run……..
Re: babyM – haha are you kidding me? It would have been a MUCH bigger deal if anyone else had said it! Especially a Republican! I agree that it was blown out of proportion though!
Re: alliiiii – Fuck you then…get over it……..
what a tool . . . how could a sitting president say something that stupid??? hes a complete IDIOT.
It was a thoughtless and inappropriate comment. If it has been an average Joe who had said it, no big deal. But, he is the POTUS, he is held to a higher standard, and he has to be careful about what he says.
At least he knew immediately that it was wrong and apologized. That is all he can do. Time to move on. There is way too much other shit he needs to worry about right now.
Obama NEEDS TO KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THAT HE'S THE PRESINDENT NOW AND THAT THERE'S SOMETHING CALLED POLITICS. He totally showed that he's unexperienced, but hey, at leats he's fresh and not a HYPOCRIT.
I have two special needs children..and I am not offended at all…but then again, nothing offends me cock sucking ball licking media whore.
freakin LAME obama was funny as hell. i
It was a joke, no harm intended. He apologized so let's move on…
Re: Animlovr – You're a moron. This isn't about your little boyfriend making a blonde joke about how dumb you are although after your comment I can understand why he would do it. THIS IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES and he should be held to a HIGHER standard. He absolutely CANNOT say things like that ESPECIALLY on national television! Think about it logically!
He needs foot powder for his mouth.
Its so funny because all the people saying "lighten up" or "it's not that serious" are the same people who would be ranting and raving if a republican or another politician had said the same thing. Answer me, Am I wrong?????? Would you be so forgiving if Bush or Mccain had said the same thing? I really want to know.
…oh. 'lighten up'. It's true and he isn't dissing Special Needs. It is what it is. We aren't all created equal. That doesn't make anyone better or lesser than another. Relax folks. Now, does anyone want to hear a fag joke???
hahahahah.
"R Word"? As in "Retard?" Are they serious. Sucks that he has to hire a special olympics athlete to not get sued. My money is that he will hire an autistic page within the week. hahahhahaha. Hilarious.
"OBAMAS FUGLY WIFE" LOOKS LIKE SHE BELONGS IN THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS!
Re: party – GOT NOTHING ELSE ON HIM? He went forward with an 800 billion dollar stimulus bill and then said that it only had a 70% chance of actually working. His new spending bill has over 9,000 earmarks I believe when he REPETITIVELY said over and over again that he would NEVER allow earmarks and was completely against them. You don't remember that?
Believe me, they have PLENTY on him. It's just that almost every media outlet in this country is so far left that they will never get their head out of his ass and actually report what's going on. We'll never know the truth with him, ever.
If anyone else other than the president had said this, it would not have even been noticed. Comics, musicians, actors, even politicians say WAY more politically incorrect things on talk shows all the time. People need to relax!
I think we need an Al Sharpton for the special olympics…
special olympics is glad it happned cause now they will get free publicity and $$ out of it
lighten up. the retards could probably care less. its the uptight people that can't take a joke.
you have to be a BLACK president to get away with shit Barak says i l ove the man
sucks for him, everyone is watching and waiting for him to slip. when i comes down to it, ever second word that came out of BUSH'S mouth was a disaster. So whatevs!
no matter how much you try to recall it you can never take a comment like that back when it's seen across the nation.
You give him credit??? You wouldn't give Bush credit if he did something like that. I have a child with autism and this is unacceptable. UNACCEPTABLE for a PRESIdENT to make a joke out of the disabled! You and the rest of the media are hypocrites for not calling him on this. would you make excuses for him if he said he bowled like a Gay? He did a horrible thing and he should pay for it, just like anyone else would have to!!
Honestly it was probably a joke that right after he said it he realized it was insulting. For anyone saying this shows his "true colors", how many times a day do you say something's retarded when complaining about it?
He did the right thing by calling and apologizing right away, and I think this shows that everyone can make mistakes and be wrong.
YA PEREZ DOES LICK OBAMA'S ASSHOLE! OBAMA THINKS IT'S WRONG TO BE GAY !
Wow..it's crazy how careful you have to be nowindays with your words. Anything you say can be blown out of epic porportions… Whatever happened to democracy…freedom of speech, etc.
OBAMA!
that is pretty bad for a new president to make fun of the developmentally disabled people of america. i would expect this from bush but not obama.
the special olympics might be a joke to the majority of the world - but i am sure it is the one thing that so many people look forward to compete in each year.
i do not normally care about this sort of thing - but give these people a fucking break! they have enough to deal with and they cannot help that they were born differently from mainstream society.
also - just because a developmentally disabled person competes in the special olympics does not mean that they suck at their sport . . . i am just saying . . .
I think 5 yrs ago no one would have noticed the comment, that it's not a big deal, President Obama was aware of his faux-pas and apologized immediately. For some reason, the Special Olympic Committee issued a very long statement instead of keeping this minimal, probably enjoying the free publicity. This uber political correctness is very hypocritical and annoying.
I was listening to the show last night as i was going to sleep and i heard him say it… I thought to myself "uh oh, some schmoe is going to make a big deal out of this". He did cover is ass well though. Quick recovery.
test
it was a joke…get over it…i bet most of you had said something like that…you're all just crazy if you really care about this shit…
WHAT A FUCKINGGGGG DICK!!!
SOME DEEP WATERS ARE UNDER THAT TELEPROMPTER!
What do I think? I think a PRESIDENT of the United States should not be sitting with a nightime comic while his cabinet were making assholes of themselves with the AIP debacle. I think Omaba have to stop being so fucking egotistic and do some real work for his country. Giving our money away to greedy corporations is not working for our country. I also think Obama should fire the Head of the Treasure Dept and stop doing whatever Pelosi said.
What do I think? I think the USA is totally fucked, that's what I think.
SO HE THINKS ITS FUNNY THAT KIDS HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS?
GET OVER IT. IM MORE OFFENDED MY MALARIOS BIG HEAD AND HIS TENDENCY TOWARDS BANNING THOSE WHO MAKE HIS CRAPTASTIC SITE WORTH READING!!
Re: MaggieTrudeau –
even though he said something stupid - at least he was able to address it straight away and not just ignore like that last douche . . .
I DIDN'T GET THE JOKE? CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN HOW THIS IS FUNNY
This country has its panties in a bunch…Just like Mario….
Re: loribaby1 – Your comment was brilliant!!!!
Re: aj – HONK!
Re: LovinPerezHilton5 – figure it out…
I'm wondering what you'd be saying perez if GWB cracked this joke. you're so two-faced
Bush may not have been the most well-spoken man, but he never said anything flat-out rude or hateful like that. Obama is such a jerk!
The buffoon is destroying our country.
I've got mixed feelings about Obama. He is not a seasoned politician which may be a good thing. Not at all impressed by the bail out so far. Someone needs to read the fine print before making these deals. Open mouth and insert foot. He really had no business being on Leno, or coloring fountains green. These are bad financial times. Skype your Speeches and stay home and save money.
It wasn't a big deal. I thought it was funny..
I think people need to back off him, he's trying to clear up Bush's mess, he's a really decent guy, a down to earth president, what he said was barely offensive, here goes the media stirring up shit , poor guy can't fart without having to make a public apology for it
hahahahaha thats hilarious
Re: Hmm.. Where is BBD and Harry Balsac? Da – because bush is a dick
I wish he would make fun of me…He'll pay for that.:0)