Newt Gingrich demands apology from Robert De Niro over racist joke
GOP candidate Newt Gingrich called on President Barack Obama and demanded an apology for the “White First Lady” joke made by Robert De Niro at an Obama fundraiser on Monday.
According to the reports, Robert De Niro said it was “too soon” for a white First Lady, while speaking at a dinner he hosted in New York City to raise funds for the re-election campaign. The Republican presidential candidate Gingrich denounced his comments and said that it is “inexcusable.”
“What De Niro said last night was inexcusable and the president should apologize for him,’ Newt Gingrich told supporters in Shreveport, Louisiana. He added, “I do want to say one thing, both on behalf of my wife and on behalf of Karen Santorum and on behalf of Ann Romney, I think that Robert De Niro’s wrong. I think the country is ready for a new first lady and he doesn’t have to describe it in racial terms.”
Robert De Niro and his wife Grace Hightower hosted the dinner attended by around 90 Obama supporters at the Greenwich Hotel, which the actor owns. The event was attended by First Lady Michelle Obama. Before addressing the supporters, De Niro said, “Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?”
A guest at the event, shouted “No!’, to which Robert De Niro added: ‘Too soon, right?’
The White House agreed with Newt Gingrich, saying: “We believe the joke was inappropriate.”
The GOP candidate Newt Gingrich added that the comments made by the “Taxi Driver” star divide the country and that “everybody in the country ought to hold the president accountable when somebody at his event says something as utterly, totally unacceptable as Robert De Niro said last night.”
Newt Gingrich said that while he would prefer his wife Callista as First Lady, he would be “very proud and very honored” to have Ann Romney or Karen Santorum in the White House.
“These are fine ladies, as is Michelle Obama, but this is not about the First Lady, it is about the president and that is where De Niro missed the whole point. He should be ashamed of himself,” Newt Gingrich concluded.