Bernie Sanders Calls Bill Clinton "The First Real Black President"

Sanders jokes about the former president's popularity amongst the voters he needs as he and Spike Lee discuss the challenge of getting older blacks and Latinos to support him and not Hillary.

Bernie Sanders jokingly called Bill Clinton "the first black president" for The Hollywood Reporter's cover story with Spike Lee. Lee asked Sanders about his need to secure votes from the older generation and African Americans, who previously supported Bill Clinton.

“First black president right? Obama is only the second black president,” said Sanders about Clinton's popularity amongst African Americans. Lee, however, quickly pointed out that Sanders wasn't the first person to make that joke.

"Toni Morrison said that Bill Clinton was the first black President. She said that," Lee said, referencing when the Nobel-prize winning author once made the statement in an interview.

After jokingly calling Barack Obama the second black president, Sanders had nothing but praise for the current Commander-In-Chief. "This president will go down in history as one of the smartest presidents we had in this country," said Sanders. "I think people are beginning to catch on. The more they hear from Republicans, the smarter they think he is."

Read THR's full cover story for more on Sanders' thoughts about education, guns and Obama’s legacy on the eve of the crucial New York primary.