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Wilmore says his 'tone didn't fit room' in D.C. performance

 
Larry Wilmore of The Nightly Show speaks at the White House Correspondents Association dinner on Saturday in Washington. The White House says President Barack Obama wasn’t offended.
Larry Wilmore of The Nightly Show speaks at the White House Correspondents Association dinner on Saturday in Washington. The White House says President Barack Obama wasn’t offended.
Published May 4, 2016

NEW YORK — Comic Larry Wilmore says his "tone didn't fit the room" at his much talked-about White House Correspondents Association speech but believes his use of a provocative term to address President Barack Obama may open an important dialogue for the country.

The Comedy Central host said in an interview Tuesday that he's willing to take the heat for his performance over the weekend, which skewered media figures and politicians. The so-called nerd prom is a big event in Washington, and Wilmore's roast, which followed Obama's final address at the event as president, was televised across the country.

"I may have underestimated the tone of how I was telling the jokes," the Nightly Show host said, although he said "all of these revelations you realize after the fact."

Still, he wasn't taking back the most-discussed moment of the speech, which came at the end. Wilmore, who is black and, at 54, the same age as Obama, said words didn't do justice to the idea that he could live at the same time a black man could be leader of the free world.

He concluded: "Yo Barry, you did it, my n---a. You did it."

Wilmore's use of the phrase shed light on a debate among many in the black community: those who feel it is an offensive slur and shouldn't be used in any context, and others — including Wilmore — who feel that using it as a term of endearment among blacks robs the word of its negative power.

"I knew that it would be provocative and yes, I was taking a big chance," Wilmore said. "But you know what, it was just a creative expression that I made at the time. I don't know if I would take it back."

He said that "at this point, I think it may open up a dialogue that at the end of the day is probably pretty good. And if I have to take the heat for it, that's okay. Part of my job is to take the heat. I certainly dished out a lot of stuff."

Wilmore said the president was "very kind and very warm" to him, and the White House said Monday that Obama wasn't offended by use of the phrase. Others were, including civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who was at the dinner and criticized it later.