President Obama isn't taking exception to comedian Larry Wilmore's use of the N-word during his speech at the White House Correspondents' dinner Saturday night.

Instead, the White House appears to be offering a tepid endorsement of the way Wilmore used the racist term.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said he had talked to Obama about Wilmore's use of the word and said the president told him "he appreciated the spirit of Mr. Wilmore's expression Saturday night."

"I'm confident that Mr. Wilmore used the word by design. He was seeking to be provocative," Earnest said. "Any reading of his comments made clear that he was not using the president as a butt of a joke."

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"This is a tough assignment," Earnest said of Wilmore's job, which was to follow the president at a dinner where comedians are "going to get much closer to the line than they ordinarily would."

Larry Wilmore ends his #WHCD speech with the N-word pic.twitter.com/g6RyhfKaEG— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 1, 2016



Wilmore, the host of Comedy Central's satirical news program "The Nightly Show," set off a social media uproar with his several race-tinged comments during his remarks.

"Yo Barry, you did it my n—-a," Wilmore said to Obama to close out his set.

After the event, the Rev. Al Sharpton said he thought the use of the word was "at best in poor taste."

But others, such as "Saturday Night Live" cast member Sasheer Zamata, tweeted, "This is the blackest correspondents dinner ever and I LOVE it."