--- title: Obama 'Appreciated' Larry Wilmore Controversial Speech description: Wilmore got mixed reviews for ending his White House Correspondents Dinner remarks with the n-word canonical: https://time.com/4316207/larry-wilmore-barack-obama-nword-white-house-correspondents-dinner/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-03T15:28:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:32:04.033Z og:title: White House Says Obama 'Appreciated' Larry Wilmore's Correspondents' Dinner Speech og:description: Wilmore was criticized for using the n-word in his Correspondents' Dinner speech og:url: https://time.com/4316207/larry-wilmore-barack-obama-nword-white-house-correspondents-dinner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Says Obama 'Appreciated' Larry Wilmore's Correspondents' Dinner Speech twitter:description: Wilmore was criticized for using the n-word in his Correspondents' Dinner speech twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # White House Says Obama 'Appreciated' Larry Wilmore's White House Correspondents' Dinner Speech  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 3, 2016 3:28 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 3, 2016 3:28 PM UTC President Barack Obama is not offended that comedian Larry Wilmore used the N-word in his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, [White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday. ](http://www.c-span.org/video/?408940-1/white-house-briefing) The host of Comedy Central’s satirical news program _The Nightly Show_ got [mixed reviews](http://time.com/4313607/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2016-larry-wilmore-n-word/) for ending his remarks Saturday night with “Yo Barry, you did it my n—a.” Reverend Al Sharpton said it was “at best poor taste.” _Saturday Night Live_ cast member Sasheer Zamata tweeted “I LOVE it.” Earnest told reporters that the President “appreciated the sentiment that Mr. Wilmore expressed in his speech” and that “the personal views that Mr. Wilmore was expressing came from a genuine place.” On _The Nightly Show_ Monday night, the comedian argued “n—a” is a “colloquialism” and “a term of endearment that some black people use between each other” — as opposed to “n—er,” which is a derogatory term for black people. He also called out former CNN anchor Piers Morgan for using the latter term in his [_Mail Online_ ](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3569471/PIERS-MORGAN-Genocide-brain-vile-word-not-die-Obama-deserves-better-called-n-anyone.html)column: “Piers, you did not properly conjugate that slur.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4316207/larry-wilmore-barack-obama-nword-white-house-correspondents-dinner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4316207/larry-wilmore-barack-obama-nword-white-house-correspondents-dinner/"},"headline":"White House Says Obama 'Appreciated' Larry Wilmore's White House Correspondents' Dinner Speech","datePublished":"2016-05-03T15:28:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:32:04.033Z","description":"Wilmore was criticized for using the n-word in his Correspondents' Dinner speech","url":"https://time.com/4316207/larry-wilmore-barack-obama-nword-white-house-correspondents-dinner/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4316207/larry-wilmore-barack-obama-nword-white-house-correspondents-dinner/","name":"White House Says Obama 'Appreciated' Larry Wilmore's White House Correspondents' Dinner Speech"}}]}] ```