Organizers at the Republican Leadership Conference reportedly cut short a performance by Barack Obama impersonator Reggie Brown on Saturday following a series of "racially-tinged" jokes about the president. (Example: "My favorite month is February, Back History Month. See Michele, she celebrates the whole month. I only celebrate half"). On Monday, Brown defended his act and pushed back against the suggestion he was yanked early during an appearance on MSNBC and in an interview with CNN.com.
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In the CNN interview, Brown refuted the notion he was cut off prematurely. The real story, according to Brown, went something like this:
"What happened is that I went over my minutes. They told me I had 20, but they aired a video before me and then my intro took up more time. When our liaison—they guy who introduced me–came up to me onstage, he said, “Hey, I am sorry—your time is up," and so I finished and went backstage. I was told it was because of my time, not my act, not because of anything I said."He repeated the time-constraint explanation during a sometimes in-character appearance on MSNBC this morning, adding that the performance didn't cause any problems in rehearsal and that his jokes about the 2012 GOP presidential field also weren't a problem."That's my material," he said, "that's what I do." Also, he says he got paid in full.
