Larry Wilmore speaks at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on April 30. | AP Photo White House calls Larry Wilmore's performance 'provocative'

President Barack Obama was appreciative of the spirit of Larry Wilmore’s performance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, the White House said Monday in defense of the comedian who concluded his set by, in his own words, “keeping it 100.”

Wilmore, who touched on race at the outset of his remarks by welcoming attendees to “Negro Night” at the Washington Hilton, prefaced his closing statement by addressing the importance of Obama’s legacy as the first black U.S. president. He recalled that when he was a child, the country wouldn’t even accept a black quarterback on the football field.


“Now think about that. A black man was thought by his mere color not good enough to lead a football team — and now, to live in your time, Mr. President, when a black man can lead the entire free world, words alone can do me no justice,” Wilmore said. “So, Mr. President, if I’m going to keep it 100: ‘Yo, Barry, you did it, my n----. You did it.’”

White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Monday the president “appreciated the spirit of Mr. Wilmore’s expressions,” noting the tough environment comedians face annually following the president’s remarks at the dinner.

“I’m confident that Mr. Wilmore used the word by design. He was seeking to be provocative,” Earnest said. “But I think any reading of his comments makes clear he was not using the president as the butt of a joke.”

Earnest said the headliner has “one of the most difficult tasks in comedy.”

“Just by nature of the engagement, that’s a tough job, following the president of the United States,” Earnest said. “President Obama also over the years has shown himself to be rather adept at delivering a speech that consists primarily of one- or two-liners, and the president enjoys that opportunity. So the point is that Mr. Wilmore had a difficult job that he was facing on Saturday.”

Obama’s expectation was that Wilmore and all comedians who perform at the dinner would go right to the line, added Earnest, who refused to suggest that Wilmore crossed it with his use of the divisive term.

Earnest argued that this Monday isn’t the first Monday after an WHCD in which people have claimed the comedian crossed the line, invoking the reactions to Stephen Colbert in 2006 and Wanda Sykes in 2009.

“So it’s not the first time that we’ve had a conversation like this, in which these kinds of concerns have been raised or expressed,” Earnest said. “Look, I had an opportunity to speak to the president about this briefly this morning and he said that he appreciated the spirit of the sentiments that Mr. Wilmore expressed. He ended his speech by saying that he couldn’t put into words the pride that he felt in the president.”

Asked whether Wilmore’s comments — he also referred to himself and Obama as “thugs” in a joke about Fox News’ reporting — gave Obama’s critics freedom to use similar language toward the president and others, Earnest refused to speculate.

“Well, I have no idea what impact Larry Wilmore’s speech is gonna have on the president’s critics, and I don’t think I’m gonna spend much time worrying about it,” Earnest said.