Pres. Obama won’t make fun of Clint Eastwood: ‘I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan’

As we discussed last Friday, Clint Eastwood’s speech at the Republican Convention will go down in pop culture history. Maybe not political history, although win or lose for Mitt Romney, I’m sure the “Yelling At Invisible Obama” thing will definitely be including in many memoirs and political tell-alls about the 2012 campaign. Now that we’re several days past Clint Eastwood’s speech, was it really that bad? Was it a “game changer”? Eh. Not really, in my opinion. Making Sarah Palin the vice presidential nominee was a “game changer” – having Clint Eastwood yell at a chair during the final night of the Republican convention (IN PRIME TIME!) was just a really awful PR mistake and a moment of pop culture infamy.

As for the infamy… I’ve included some of my favorites in this post. “Eastwooding” quickly became a meme, and there are lots of Twit-pics and Instagram photos of people pointing and blaming empty chairs, which were funny for the first day. So, what did Visible Obama (otherwise known as POTUS) think of Clint Eastwood and Invisible Obama? The President was kind. Turns out, he’s a Clint fan.

Acclaimed actor and filmmaker Clint Eastwood criticized U.S. President Barack Obama while giving a lengthy, unorthodox and divisive speech at the Republican National Convention August 30, but the commander-in-chief hasn’t lost respect for the Hollywood icon, 82.

“I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan,” Obama, 51, told USA Today while traveling to Iowa aboard Air Force One Saturday. “He is a great actor, and an even better director. I think the last few movies that he’s made have been terrific.”

During Eastwood’s 12-minute improvisation, the actor pretended to have a conversation with Obama by addressing an empty chair. “I’ve got Mr. Obama sitting here. I was going to ask him a couple of questions,” Eastwood told Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s supporters. Obama’s campaign staff responded by tweeting an image of the married father-of-two sitting in his presidential chair with a very clear message: “This seat’s taken.”

When asked point blank by USA Today if he was offended by Eastwood’s “interview” at the Republican National Convention, Obama smiled and said, “One thing about being president or running for president — if you’re easily offended, you should probably choose another profession.”

Eastwood’s bizarre speech befuddled many stars, including Adam Levine and Olivia Munn. “Clint Eastwood has gone f—in’ nutterbutters yo,” The Voice’s Levine, 33, tweeted. “Clint Eastwood was talking to an empty chair at the RNC,” Newsroom’s Munn, 32, wrote. “No, that’s not the set up to a joke. It’s not even a joke.”

Obama assured USA Today he has no intention of pulling a similar stunt at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 4. “I think we’ll be playing this pretty straight,” he said.

[From Us Weekly]

I think Pres. Obama’s response is smart. At face value, he was nice and he complimented Clint as an artist and didn’t feel the need to respond to Clint’s politics. But by commenting at all, Obama has extended the story and now everybody, from gossip blogs to legit newspapers, gets to recap the RNC’s disastrous move to have Eastwood speak at the convention. Do you think some of the speakers at the Democratic National Convention will have some fun with Eastwooding? I do. But probably not in prime time, and I doubt/hope it won’t be any of the major speakers.

Eastwooding Memes courtesy of Mashable, other sources..

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

52 Responses to “Pres. Obama won’t make fun of Clint Eastwood: ‘I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan’”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Launicaangelina says:

    Ha! Loved the meme pics!

    • T.C. says:

      I couldn’t stop laughing at the memes and tweets. So funny. Good response by Obama. Clint is old no use in getting mad at him.

  2. Rice says:

    Even if you don’t like Obama, you have to admit that his response was exquisite. BTW, loved the Simpson’s meme of Old Man Yells At Chair.

  3. truthSF says:

    Nothing beats the “This seat’s taken” tweet pic, sarcastic and funny as heck.

  4. mln76 says:

    Hate to get too political (this is a gossip site) but this was a disaster for Romney all anyone remembers is Clint and the chair NOT his speech. My favorite meme is Clint talking to Chairie from PeeWee’s Playhouse.

    • Jenny says:

      Absolutely agree. Why would the President be upset about something that seems to have come out in HIS favor. He showed humor and no animosity. Smart move on his part.

      • kas says:

        Yes, clearly it didn’t get to him at all. That’s why President Twitter (70,000 phony followers and all) tweeted his response within an hour or so of Clints’ speech.

      • Esmom says:

        @kas, you do know that he’s not personally tweeting?

    • lucy2 says:

      Must find the one of Chairie, that sounds awesome.

    • ZenB!tch says:

      The stupidest thing I saw was “Empty Chair Day”. The Republicans were going hog wild on FB with that and all I could think of was that it was bringing the attention back to Clint and away from their candidate and their issues. Idiots.

    • Eli says:

      Disaster? Right the opposite! Clint said what the majority of American’s are thinking.

  5. eb says:

    The President’s response was also smart on another level – the personal one. If Clint Eastwood heard the kind and forgiving response of the President, how he just absolved him of his wrongdoing, and was any kind of normal human being, I can only assume he would feel some measure of guilt.

    To publicly excoriated the character of the President in such a public venue. Implying curse words being uttered by the President. Well. I have a feeling if Clint Eastwood looks back on this regardless of his future politics, he will be embarrassed to have been carried along by the wave of personal hate at the man and not merely the policy. But, it got laughs at the convention, and I guess that’s all that matter to Mr. Eastwood at the time.

    • ZenB!tch says:

      Absolve???? Absolve???? That is offensive. Who the H needs Obama to absolve them? Is the the fricking Pope or Dalai Lama?

      And what did Clint do wrong? Giving an odd speech is not a sin and not liking Obama is not a sin.

      I realize some people think that not worshiping Obama is wrong and possibly even racist) but a lot of us don’t drink the Kool Aid.

  6. pretty says:

    I’ve never seen a movie this guy has made or this guy has stared so i have no idea about his work and etc but just only watching that video of him talking to an invisible Obama.. he looked like mentally challenged. And he kept stuttered. I mean.. Is he a secretly a troll from Democrats or something?

    • mln76 says:

      He’s an iconic actor (biggest hits in the 70 s) whose Dirty Harry character was often quoted by Presidents Reagan and Bush. Plus he segwayed into directing and has won a pile of Oscars oh and he was mayor of a small city in California a while back basically he’s well respected by liberals and conservatives (or was). Sad that you only know him through this debacle.

    • MaraJade says:

      I agree with the comment above; it’s a pity this was your introduction to Clint Eastwood… He actually has an iconic body of work. If you’re at all interested, films like his Dollars trilogy, Escape from Alcatraz, Kelly’s Heroes, or Heartbreak Ridge are worth a look.

      • mia girl says:

        I also agree. There are so many great movies he’s directed… Bird, Unforgiven, Mystic River.

        But, feel free to skip the movies where he co-stars with monkeys.

      • ZenB!tch says:

        Clint Eastwood was also one of those rare men that was hot way into his 50s but that was over 20 years ago when I was a teenager.

        It’s very sad that this is the first time young people got to see him – although it could be worse, it could have been on Dina’s reality show.

        Seeing him doddering like that, did explain Dina’s reality show for those of us who remember a younger and very vital Clint. He was still all there well into his 70s.

        I don’t think he’s mentally challenged, to me that implies low IQ. He has a movie coming out with Amy Adams so he can still follow his lines. I think he’s just old. The stupid Repubs didn’t give him any lines.

    • Lushus L. says:

      Four words– “Play Misty for Me.”

  7. Bamster says:

    Good to see a Dem take the high road, a rare thing! It wasn’t a disaster, it was more of just a “thing”, did it topple Romney’s numbers? Nope. Was it perfect? Nope, it was silly at times, funny at others. Dems get to make fun as they do best, while more attention gets directed to Romney’s campaign. Seriously, the dude is 82, it was nice that at least Obama gave him some slack. Not every one agrees with Clint bashing, regardless of party affiliation, he is a national treasure.

    • mln76 says:

      Subtle digs aside (dems never take the high road really) you cant be serious to think it doesn’t hurt Romney. It was the biggest speech of his campaign in Prime Time Tv overshadowed by a rambling icon. Sure it hasnt toppled his numbers but so far in polls he’s showing little to no bounce which is the whole point of these conventions . Now if the Democratic Convention is succesful for Obama and he gets a bounce and pulls ahead this may be considered one of the turning points in the election.

    • mln89 says:

      get a mother effen clue. dems take the high road all the time with the racist, homophobic, misogynistic, anti-intellectual, and GREEDY classist trash that comprise the repugnicant party all the time. that’s why this country has moved to center left, and “wtf is wrong with you greedy selfish people” insane right because there hasn’t been enough of a strong liberal opposition. never in my life seen a president be so disrespected. president obama should have been able to tell that idiotic, senile, decrepit “national treasure” clint eastwood to stuff that empty chair where the sun don’t shine. i hope he does when his NEXT TERM is over in 2016.

    • Bobbie says:

      mln89- I think you just proved Bamster’s point. I completely disagree with these opinions on the convention. Wishful thinking on the part of Dems. I voted for Obama last time. I decided during the convention to vote for Romney last time and I am an independent swing voter in a swing state.

      • mln89 says:

        bamster had no freaking point. at least not a point based in reality. repugs are constantly vitriolic and hateful to anyone who is not a white wealthy heterosexual christian man, and they never get a strong liberal response to their venomous rhetoric and evil political tactics. open your freaking eyes, it JUST happened in this situation! look at the crap clint eastwood just pulled! and all president obama did was compliment that old sack of garbage after all the disrespectful b.s. he said about him on national t.v. get a clue. and good luck with your “swing” vote. unless you are in the 1%, with myriad unfair tax breaks and your own health insurance, if the rethugs win, you’re f!cked.

  8. Christine says:

    Obama’s responses have been absolutely perfect. Presidential, funny, clever, kind. Poor Clint. I still don’t understand what happened.

  9. mia girl says:

    This stuff has been funny. Invisible Obama twitter is very clever as well… but I kinda feel bad for old Clint.

    It is a bit ironic that so many in the GOP blast the Dems for all their Hollywood connections, and yet they go out, find the biggest A-list Hollywood guy they could get, line him up to speak on the most important night of their convention to tee up their nominee. And in the end, it kinda backfires.

  10. Green_Eyes says:

    Very smart move indeed President Obama. Irks me however that our President who has earned the title of President is more often than not referred to as Mr. Obama (Eastwood did it also). Our President gets addressed as Mr. Obama by both sides of the media (which once upon a time was neutral in public & just gave facts not their opinions) & by so much of the Public. I was raised you respect the Position & Title whether you agree w/ their politics & administration or not. Ok off soapbox, but kudos to President Obama. Personally speaking, I think it might have been a smart move indeed,
    but I believe our President is a gentleman & smart enough to know he doesn’t
    need to make derogatory comments against an aged old Hollywood Legend. Politically career wise Eastwood’s highest office was Mayor of Carmel, Ca., some are aware of that, but not most. At 82 doubt he is not rising any further in that arena so why go after an old Hollywood Icon that was clearly misused. Just don’t think our President is that petty, doesn’t strike me as such. I too hope that the major Speakers at the DNC refrain from it in their speeches, definitely shows it wasn’t worth addressing and was a bad move on Rominey’s side. Hope Eastwood has enough tact & decency to respect the Presidents refusal to tear him down, and instead praise his career. Kudos President Obama.

    • debbi says:

      Oh my God, I am right there with you. It enrages me when President Obama is referred to as Mr Obama. He is the President and should be referred to as such. They never called President Bush Mr Bush. President Obama has earned the same respect!

      • The Original Mia says:

        On another blog, someone said the proper protocol is this: 1st mention: President Obama. Additional mentions by the same person: Mr. Obama. It is improper to call him simply Obama. It’s either President or Mr. Obama.

    • Jo 'Mama' Besser says:

      I also really hate the ‘Mr. Obama’ trend.

  11. e.non says:

    i think it’s pretty much run its course as far as snarking about it. the convention starts today, so there’s plenty to keep the chattermonkeys busy.

    what a sad way for eastwood to go out — from film icon to cranky old man. which is just the type of character he appears to play in the movie coming out; i wonder if he’ll be out promoting it on the talk shows — which could actually provide an opportunity to redeem himself. who’s gonna get it: letterman or leno?

  12. Mac says:

    Obama is easily offended. His delusions of grandeur have been his biggest character flaw as POTUS.

    His shadow puppet Joe “he’ll put y’all back in chains” Biden will most likely be the one chosen to retaliate.

    • Gale says:

      I mean why should he be offended when Republicans call him the Socialist Muslim Antichrist that wans to destroy (White)America.

    • Kelly says:

      What a great comment to an article in which President Obama is saying that he wasn’t offended and that he’s still a fan of Eastwood’s work.

      And this is why reading is fundamental.

      • Just Saying says:

        “Imaginary Obama” perfectly illustrates the GOP’S rationalizing of President Obama since the day he was elected.

    • Esmom says:

      “Delusions of grandeur?” “Shadow puppet?” Please.

    • mln76 says:

      Delusions of Grandeur? Like thinking he’s the President of the USA? Doesn’t he know he was born in Kenya?

    • A- says:

      I find it hard to understand how the President of the United States (The MOST powerful man in the WORLD) could have delusions of grandeur. You do understand that the term means that someone thinks he’s more important than he really is? President Obama REALLY is THAT important.

    • feebee says:

      Reading the President’s comments I’m pretty sure President Obama was not offended. Especially not by that unfortunate performance.

      That’s not to say he won’t be between now and the election. The GOP won’t let us down on the offensive scale. Though hard to top the Rape debate.

    • mln89 says:

      seriously, drink a glass of shut the f!ck up and basic reading comprehension. president obama clearly complimented that demented sack of old sh!t clint eastwood, after he insulted his office as the president, and even though he SHOULD have been able to respond in kind. but he knows that no matter what he does, delusional as!holes like yourself find a reason to complain about his conduct. tired of you people.

  13. Turd Fergussen says:

    What Clint Eastwood said isn’t going to make a sh*t bit of difference in Romney’s numbers. Obama may not make fun of him, but his handlers & minions sure have/will.

  14. snappyfish says:

    newsflash: ALL politicans have delusions of grandeur…that’s why they run in the first place.

  15. mln89 says:

    clint eastwood needs to sit his decrepit, old sack of sh!t ass down and drink some metamucil. he needs to stay out of politics and leave it to those who have their wits about them, and BASIC respect for people, like president obama. all i have to say about president obama’s response to that crypt- keeper is: well played.

  16. Isabella Notarfrancesco says:

    Good on you Barack. So how’s that action on climate change going?

  17. jferber says:

    President Obama is the definition of class. Period. Love him.

  18. Kosmos says:

    LOVE Obama….Clint’s speech was “unfortunate” and embarrassing to all concerned. And he’s supposed to be a movie director? Wow…I’m totally surprised he would do something this idiotic…

  19. Amanda G says:

    Am I the only one who doesn’t want to watch Clint’s speech because I don’t want it to hurt my opinion of him? LOL Not that I’m his biggest fan or anything, but I have enjoyed a few of his movies.