--- title: Hillary Clinton, Bill de Blasio Criticized for Racial Joke description: The politicians invoked the stereotype of "C.P. time" canonical: https://time.com/4290109/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio-cp-time/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-11T23:55:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:22.537Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio Draw Criticism for Racial Joke og:description: The politicians invoked the stereotype "C.P. time" og:url: https://time.com/4290109/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio-cp-time/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt274aee1904b80cc9/69888eb40a4a2257469c9337/bill-de-blasio.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4896 og:image:height: 2754 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton Holds Post-Super Tuesday Rally In NYC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio Draw Criticism for Racial Joke twitter:description: The politicians invoked the stereotype "C.P. time" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt274aee1904b80cc9/69888eb40a4a2257469c9337/bill-de-blasio.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio Draw Criticism for Racially Charged Joke > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Apr 11, 2016 11:55 PM UTC  Mayor Bill De Blasio at Hillary Clinton at labor rally at The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on March 2, 2016 in New York City. Mayor Bill De Blasio at Hillary Clinton at labor rally at The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on March 2, 2016 in New York City. Steve Sands—WireImage/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Apr 11, 2016 11:55 PM UTC Hillary Clinton and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio [sparked controversy](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/04/11/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio/) at an event on Saturday with a racially charged joke. Clinton and de Blasio were joined onstage by Leslie Odom Jr. in costume as Aaron Burr, whom he plays in the hit Broadway musical _Hamilton_. Clinton thanked de Blasio for his endorsement—which many pointed out came rather [late in the game](http://time.com/4094173/new-york-mayor-bill-de-blasio-endorses-hillary-clinton/)—and ribbed him, “Took you long enough.” The mayor replied, “Sorry, Hillary, I was running on C.P. time.” The abbreviation refers to the stereotype of “Colored People time,” and several people in the audience could be heard gasping or groaning. Odom, who is black and whom the [New York ](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/04/11/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio/)[_Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/04/11/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio/)suggests was in on the joke, rebuked him, saying, “I don’t like jokes like that, Bill.” Clinton dryly replied, “Cautious politician time. I’ve been there.” The exchange prompted pushback online, both from bloggers and social media users. Clinton, who has performed well with black voters in early primaries, will depend on their votes in the New York primary on April 19. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/04/11/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4290109/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio-cp-time/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4290109/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio-cp-time/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio Draw Criticism for Racially Charged Joke","datePublished":"2016-04-11T23:55:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:22.537Z","description":"The politicians invoked the stereotype of \"C.P. time\"","url":"https://time.com/4290109/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio-cp-time/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt274aee1904b80cc9/69888eb40a4a2257469c9337/bill-de-blasio.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt274aee1904b80cc9/69888eb40a4a2257469c9337/bill-de-blasio.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton Holds Post-Super Tuesday Rally In NYC","caption":"Hillary Clinton Holds Post-Super Tuesday Rally In NYC","creditText":"Steve Sands—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4290109/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio-cp-time/","name":"Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio Draw Criticism for Racially Charged Joke"}}]}] ```