Video: Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio Trade Some Racially Charged Jokes

By R. Siva Kumar - 12 Apr '16 16:29PM

Sometimes, a few minutes can topple long-drawn-out plans. It took Hillary Clinton just three minutes to disrupt hers when she had a comedy routine with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio over a racially charged joke.

Last Saturday, Clinton dropped in on a surprise visit to the Inner Circle dinner, which was a yearly black-tie event bringing together New York's city's press corps, lobbyists, and lawmakers. She climbed on to share the stage with de Blasio and Leslie Odom Jr. who has role-played Aaron Burr in the hit musical "Hamilton."

"Thanks for the endorsement, Bill," Mrs. Clinton said to de Blasio, her former aide when she was a senator from New York. "Took you long enough."

"Sorry, Hillary," de Blasio said. "I was running on C.P. time." This referred to the slang "Colored People Time," which made a number of people in the audience wince.

Odom, a black on the stage, retorted: "That's not - I don't like jokes like that, Bill."

Clinton waded into the joke. "Cautious politician time. I've been there," she said.

It was an ill-timed joke and quickly splashed over social media. Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders are working overtime to woo black voters ahead of the April 19 primary in New York.

Other dailies and magazines quickly picked up the joke and bandied it around in their own way. New York magazine asked "Does your wife, Chirlane, know about this joke?" referring to Mr. de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, who is African-American.

Salon dubbed it a comedy skit that was "cringe-worthy."

A Gawker headline read "Hillary Clinton Tries to Prove She's Not Racist with Awkward Joke About 'Colored People Time.'"

Over CNN on Monday evening, de Blasio said it was a scripted exchange and all the parties involved in the joke looked at the "cautious politician" as the final punchline.

"I think people are missing the point here," he said.

But the joke was dropped only a few days after Bill Clinton had exploded in front of Black Lives Matter protesters, who accused him of hurting African-American communities with policies during his regime. But the following day, Bill Clinton admitted that he "almost" wanted to apologize to the campaigners.

Bakari Sellers, a CNN contributor and Clinton supporter, said the whole repartee was "much ado about nothing."

"We are not worried about jokes that may not be funny," said Sellers, who is black. "This is not a big deal. It is a big deal that we have to remedy mass incarceration; it is a big deal that we have to remedy African-American wealth. That is what we have to focus on."