Barack Obama Called “Racist” Over Comments About Hispanic Trump Voters

The blurred, and often fine line between pop culture and politics is becoming less noticeable as government officials have relied on trends to help them stay in tune with constituents. In previous generations, we’ve watched as politicians have been disconnected from the youth or culture, but in today’s society, it’s not uncommon to see elected officials sitting down with news outlets that would have been ignored in the past. The Breakfast Club has regularly invited politicians to their platform to speak about policies and change, including Andrew Yang, Stacey Abrams, Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, and President-Elect Joe Biden. On Wednesday (November 25), the radio show welcomed former President Barack Obama and a few of his words caused quite a stir.

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The President wasn’t not only sharing a few thoughts about the current and next White House administrations, but he promoted his recently released book, A Promised Land. While speaking with The Breakfast Club, Obama commented on the 2020 election, specifically recognizing that there was a large percentage of Hispanic and Latinx voters who supported Trump for re-election.

“People were surprised about a lot of Hispanic folks who voted for Trump, but there’s a lot of evangelical Hispanics who, you know, the fact that Trump says racist things about Mexicans, or puts detainees, undocumented workers in cages,” said Obama. “They think that’s less important than the fact that he supports their views on gay marriage or abortion.”

The remarks were used by many Republicans as ammunition against  President Obama as they called him out, calling him racist. However, others defended him mentioning that he was only speaking about evangelicals in particular. You can watch The Breakfast Club‘s interview with President Barack Obama in its entirety below and read through a few responses to his comments.