Actor Robert DeNiro was kicked off a celebrity New York campaign event at which Michelle Obama spoke by asking if American was ready for a first lady of another race.
According to the White House pool report, DeNiro, who hosted the event at his restaurant Locanda Verde with his wife Grace Hightower, began by deadpanning to the crowd of about 85, “Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?”
The crowd roared and someone yelled “No!” De Niro asked, “Too soon, right?”
Hightower said that President Obama had been up against “dissenting voices, and I’d like to say, vampire energies.”
The event also included Harvey Weinstein, Beyonce, Star Jones, Whoopi Goldberg, Gayle King, Angela Bassett and Ben Stiller.
Michelle Obama called the DeNiros “a dynamic duo in their own right.”
She touted the president’s accomplishments including healthcare reform, asking the crowd, “Can I get an amen?”
The pooler noted at one point that DeNiro advocated keeping Obama until “2006,” to which one guest replied, “Don’t turn the calendar back now.”
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