‘You’re Making a Mockery of the First Amendment!’ Reporter Blasts Karine Jean-Pierre in Wild Exchange [VIDEO]
Tensions flared up during a White House press briefing on Monday after a reporter shouted at White House Press Secretary Karine-Jean Pierre for not answering one of his questions in over seven months.
The briefing was supposed to be lighthearted as the cast of Ted Lasso, a TV show, was there to speak about mental health issues for a PSA event.
Today News Africa correspondent Simon Ateba, who the White House Correspondents Association has warned about his behavior, accused Pierre of ‘making a mockery of the first amendment.’
You’re making a mockery of the First Amendment … It’s been seven months, and you have not called on me,’ he said to the press secretary while the cast looked on in bewilderment.
He further accused the Press Secretary of ‘discriminating’ against him and other reporters in the White House.
‘You’ve been discriminating against me and discriminating against some people in the briefing,’ he shouted.
‘This is not China; this is not Russia,’ he added. Reporters lambasted him for interrupting the press briefing, something Jean-Pierre has done in the past for similarly disruptive acts.
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‘You are impinging on everybody in here who’s only trying to do their job,’ reporter Brian Karem said. ‘The rest of us are here too, pal.’
Liberal journalist Glenn Greenwald mocked journalists who rushed to Jean-Pierre’s defense, saying journalists should have an ‘adversarial’ relationship with the Press Secretary.
So pathetic how WH journalists united to defend Karine Jean-Pierre — the person to whom they're supposed to be adversarial (😂) — and attacked a fellow journalist @simonateba. One of them even *apologized* to Karine, because they were so excited to see the cast of a TV show: https://t.co/wODG60r8uF
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 21, 2023
Jean-Pierre tried to talk over Ateba, who had interrupted her multiple times, as he was shouting: ‘No. No. No. We’re not doing this. We’re not doing this,’ she intoned.
After a tense exchange between Jean-Pierre and Ateba, one of the actors for the show was able to speak, he and the ‘Ted Lasso’ cast were reportedly spotting visiting the White House before the presser. He briefly discussed mental health issues.
‘No matter who you are … we all know someone … that’s struggled, that’s felt isolated, that’s felt anxious, that’s felt alone,’ he said.
Later in the briefing, an Associated Press White House Correspondent apologized to Jean-Pierre, saying, ‘This isn’t about us.’
Ateba spoke aloud again but did not yell as in previous exchanges with Jean-Pierre. ‘The American people wants you to be fair to everybody,’ he said.
Ateba was kicked out of the White House Correspondents Association due to his adversarial style of journalism.
A big thank you to all my Twitter followers and Substack subscribers who have stood by me even after I was kicked out of the @whca led by @tamarakeithNPR of @NPR and @KellyO of @NBCNews. Removing me from the WHCA has not diminished me in anyway.
Yes, I will not be able to… https://t.co/lFax9n8Chr pic.twitter.com/97re0QUG84
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) March 19, 2023
Jason Sudeikis, who plays Coach Ted Lasso in the show, briefly addressed mental health after the faceoff between Pierre and Ateba subsided while also speaking about the show.
‘The big theme of the show is to check in with your neighbor, coworker, friends, family, and ask how they are doing, and listen sincerely,’ Sudeikis advised.
‘You all ask questions for a living, but you all listen for a living. So who am I preaching to? The choir that is.’ He further said.
Ateba has continued to strike a defiant tone in the aftermath of the exchange, appearing on Tucker Carlson on Monday night.
I was on @TuckerCarlson Tonight to help protect the first amendment pic.twitter.com/DW23mfd8sI
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) March 21, 2023
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