A crowd in North Carolina became so unruly over a Donald Trump supporter holding a sign that President Obama had to tell them 13 times to "hold up" and nine times to either "listen" or "listen up" before they calmed down enough for him to speak.

"Hold up, hold up, hey, hold up, hold up – hey, hold up, hold up, hold up – hold up, hold up, hold up," Obama implored as the crowd roared their boos and jeers at the Trump supporter.

"Hey listen, listen, listen," he asked them a they crowd refused to comply.

After more than a minute of trying to calm them down, amid chants of "Hill-ar-y," Obama told them to "sit down and be quiet for a second" and "I'm serious, listen up."

When he could finally speak, the president defended the Trump backer holding a large Trump-Pence sign, saying that he was practicing free-speech and appeared to be an elderly veteran.

"You've got an older gentleman who is supporting his candidate – he's not doing nothing… you don't have to worry about him," Obama said. "This is what I mean about folks not being focused."

"First of all, we live in a country that respects free speech. Second of all, it looks like maybe he might have served in our military and we've got to respect that."

"And third of all, he is elderly and we have to respect our elders. And fourth of all, don't boo. Vote," he said, using his common refrain to crowds when they boo when he makes derogatory points about Republicans.