# President Obama uses the N word. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 22, 2015, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143 "2015-06-22T12:21:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/41 "2015-06-22T20:12:30Z")
If Fox is so eager to use the word “nigger”, why did they say "the N-word’ like most of the other news networks, who are allegedly less eager? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/42 "2015-06-22T20:22:59Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Why do all the news outlets call it “the N word” instead of quoting it directly? > > Regards, > Shodan Stupidity and cowardice. Take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/43 "2015-06-22T20:49:18Z")
There is a dichotomy in this country about who is allow to say nigger and who must say “n-word.” I work with young people and the frequency of the word in the music they prefer is just abysmal. Throbbing, loud, rhythmic N… N…, Nigger! I think this needs to stop. It isn’t artistic, it isn’t needed, it is a self perpetuating example of reinforced racism promoted by the very targets of racism. Using the word as a form of rebellion against society serves only to reinforce the separations that exist. Stop that! One of these words needs to stop being used. Do we all, and I mean all, stop saying nigger or should everyone go back to saying it until it is so offensive to be hate speech by itself? The continued use of this word in pop culture just means that the word and the hateful connotations it evokes will never go away. Nome Sayin’? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/44 "2015-06-22T22:13:01Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > There is a dichotomy in this country about who is allow to say nigger … Yes, this includes the poor, poor misfortunate racists who “don’t get” to say it- as though it were a damn privilege. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/45 "2015-06-22T22:23:47Z")
The way people are talking about this, I thought maybe President Obama had said “nigga, please” or something. That would have been hilarious, but at least I would have understood what the outrage was about. This is just stupid, though. And I have no doubt in my mind if the president had actually said “n-word”, some on the Right would have been bothered by that. The president can never win. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/46 "2015-06-22T23:48:27Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > There is a dichotomy in this country about who is allow to say nigger and who must say “n-word.” This reminds me of my old high-school job, my first job ever, in a West Texas restaurant. It was a popular place, and the gimmick was that people would phone in their orders from the table. There was a telephone at each table, and just picking up the receiver would alert the counter that someone was phoning in. Quite a novelty back then. We were a racially mixed crew, almost all high-school students, and almost all the black employees were football players. Large football players. There was a dorky little white guy named Brett – I swear this was not me – who sometimes worked the counter. He took the phone orders. When he took an order, he’d write it down on a ticket and then pass it to the cooks while saying, “Order in.” One evening, the crew mix happened to be Brett at the counter and an all-black crew of cooks. As Blacks are sometimes wont to do when clowning around amongst themselves, they were calling each other “nigger.” Brett, who had not a prejudiced bone in his body – and even if he did, he certainly would not try to antagonize beefy football players, seeing as he made even Woody Allen seem macho – got into the spirit of things by passing the tickets and calling, “Order in, nigger.” The cooks were cool with it, because they’d been throwing the N word around like water, and Brett was considered pretty cool, so no one took offense. They knew he was just trying to join in. But Brett was a little clueless and did not quite know when to stop. Long after the joke stopped being funny, he was still passing the tickets in and going, “Order in, nigger.” They started telling him, “Uh, look, Brett, that’s okay, you don’t have to do that anymore. Joke’s over. Haha, but joke’s over now.” Brett, who was as clueless as the day was long, and this was summertime, so the days were pretty long, still didn’t get it and kept it up. Finally, one of these large football players cornered Brett in the back and popped him a little. Not hard, just enough to so he’d know it really was time for the joke to end. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/47 "2015-06-22T23:51:59Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Why do all the news outlets call it “the N word” instead of quoting it directly? > > Regards, > Shodan FWIW, the two news outlets I heard the story on today (AM 780 WBBM/CBS in Chicago and NPR) both used the word “nigger.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/48 "2015-06-23T00:01:57Z")
Tha is to say, they played the clip, but neither used the phrase “n-word” in their intro to the story. I can’t remember now if the newscaster themselves used the word. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/49 "2015-06-23T00:29:32Z")
It’s total cowardice for them to be referring to the podcast as “WTF.” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/50 "2015-06-23T00:33:43Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > This reminds me of my old high-school job, my first job ever, in a West Texas restaurant. It was a popular place, and the gimmick was that people would phone in their orders from the table. There was a telephone at each table, and just picking up the receiver would alert the counter that someone was phoning in. Quite a novelty back then. > > We were a racially mixed crew, almost all high-school students, and almost all the black employees were football players. Large football players. There was a dorky little white guy named Brett – I swear this was not me – who sometimes worked the counter. He took the phone orders. When he took an order, he’d write it down on a ticket and then pass it to the cooks while saying, “Order in.” > > One evening, the crew mix happened to be Brett at the counter and an all-black crew of cooks. As Blacks are sometimes wont to do when clowning around amongst themselves, they were calling each other “nigger.” Brett, who had not a prejudiced bone in his body – and even if he did, he certainly would not try to antagonize beefy football players, seeing as he made even Woody Allen seem macho – got into the spirit of things by passing the tickets and calling, “Order in, nigger.” The cooks were cool with it, because they’d been throwing the N word around like water, and Brett was considered pretty cool, so no one took offense. They knew he was just trying to join in. > > But Brett was a little clueless and did not quite know when to stop. Long after the joke stopped being funny, he was still passing the tickets in and going, “Order in, nigger.” They started telling him, “Uh, look, Brett, that’s okay, you don’t have to do that anymore. Joke’s over. Haha, but joke’s over now.” Brett, who was as clueless as the day was long, and this was summertime, so the days were pretty long, still didn’t get it and kept it up. Finally, one of these large football players cornered Brett in the back and popped him a little. Not hard, just enough to so he’d know it really was time for the joke to end. I’m not a fan of corporal punishment, but sometimes a little pop is all it takes to make someone learn. I wish I were a beefy football player sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/51 "2015-06-23T00:59:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > FWIW, the two news outlets I heard the story on today (AM 780 WBBM/CBS in Chicago and NPR) both used the word “nigger.” I found in particularly amusing that CNN bleeped the President when they aired a clip of that interview. BTW just who \*was \*the last President to use that word in public? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/52 "2015-06-23T14:12:44Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > BTW just who \*was \*the last President to use that word in public? 😕 Bill Clinton, in a speech where he referred to “the hateful word ‘nigger’.” (Sorry, I don’t have a cite; googling “Bill Clinton speech” and “nigger” takes me to places on the internet I’d rather not know existed. But it was shown as a clip on last night’s news). ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/53 "2015-06-23T14:22:36Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I’ve never heard my dad use that word - he prefers to act clever and say “Canadians” (really) (like, seriously) - but I’m wondering if his right-wing radio will convince him to start using it now “because the President said it!” > > He’s so provocative, my dad. I have heard people in Cleveland (are you from somewhere near there?) use the term Canadian too. I think there was a thread about it a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/54 "2015-06-23T14:25:29Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I have heard people in Cleveland (are you from somewhere near there?) use the term Canadian too. I think there was a thread about it a few years ago. Good ol’ northern “secret” racism. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/55 "2015-06-23T14:26:55Z")
Apparently it’s a fairly common code word among restaurant servers throughout the US. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/56 "2015-06-23T15:26:40Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Yep. Adults talking about racism can mention difficult words like that. And white politicians can mention it too, in such a context, in my view. Good for Obama. I think it’s silly to do the whole “n-word” thing. But, let’s be clear that if a white politician had done this, he would, at a minimum, have to apologize profusely afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/57 "2015-06-23T15:33:33Z")
CBS news didn’t bleep it last night, which I thought was a good thing. Taken in context, as the President said it, I agree with his use of the word, and I was a little surprised, but not offended. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/58 "2015-06-23T15:35:25Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Good for Obama. I think it’s silly to do the whole “n-word” thing. > > But, let’s be clear that if a white politician had done this, he would, at a minimum, have to apologize profusely afterwards. I’m not sure if this is clear, unless you know of such an example (of a “mention” rather than a “use”). Did Bill Clinton have to apologize after talking about that “hateful word, nigger”? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/59 "2015-06-23T16:59:47Z")
I don’t have a problem with President Obama or ANYONE using an ugly word in the manner he did or in the context he was using it. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143/60 "2015-06-23T17:52:53Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > I think pretty much all non-Americans find it quite puzzling that many Americans say “N-word” instead of “nigger”. It is utterly silly. Calling someone a nigger or referring to blacks as niggers is despicable\*. Discussing the word “nigger” or the way it is employed is fine. It is not the fucking tetragrammaton. Is the use-mention distinction really beyond the intellectual reach of most Americans? Or is it something else? There are two schools of thought here. One is the above. Another says that “nigger” is such an objectionable word that it should not be used and _not even be mentioned_. There are certainly other words that popular media won’t quote or mention because even the word itself is offensive. Remember when Bono said “Fuck” at an awards show? You are not going to pick up the Washington Post and read that direct quote; they are going to call it “the F word” or maybe even just “an expletive.” They just don’t want that word appearing in their newspaper. Similarly, many outlets won’t use “nigger” even if it’s a direct quote. CNN played the Obama audio uncensored, then had a mini-debate between two…I guess you’d have to call them pundits. One was an African American woman who was saying that Obama was wrong to have said that word. Period. The other guy was an African American man who was making the use/mention distinction, although he didn’t call it that. And then he said something like, “It’s OK if you are quoting someone who said ‘nigger’!” and that woman just went ballistic. “I can’t believe you just used that word!!” It then deteriorated into a ridiculous pointless shouting match, which is what usually happens on CNN. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-uses-the-n-word/723143.md?page=4)