White House: Obama not offended by comedian’s language

Washington — The White House says President Barack Obama wasn’t offended by comedian Larry Wilmore’s use of a racial slur at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Wilmore concluded his remarks noting progress on race and how much it meant to him that a black man was president. He concluded: “Yo Barry, you did it my n----. You did it.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says he talked to Obama, and Obama appreciated the spirit of racial progress Wilmore was trying to convey.

Earnest says the White House didn’t see Wilmore’s speech beforehand. Earnest also says he’s confident Wilmore used the word by design and was seeking to be provocative.

But Earnest says any fair reading makes clear that Wilmore’s sentiments of racial progress “came from a genuine place.”