Washington, Mar 20 (EFE).- Chaos broke out on Monday in the White House press room when a journalist shoutedly interrupted the presidential spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, to complain that she was not letting him ask questions.
The incident occurred on a day when the White House press conference had aroused special expectation due to the presence of the actors from the series “Ted Lasso”, who were going to meet with the US president, Joe Biden, to talk about mental health
As soon as the actors arrived at the podium and when Jean-Pierre was introducing them, the journalist Simon Ateba from the Today News Africa portal began to complain loudly that the spokesperson did not give him the floor and did not let him ask questions at his press conferences.
Ateba has interrupted the daily press conferences at the White House on other occasions and usually rebukes Jean-Pierre directly; but he had never been involved in an incident similar to today’s.
As the journalist yelled, Jean-Pierre tried to speak over him to welcome the “Ted Lasso” actors, who were standing behind expectantly and not quite knowing what to do.
“We are ready? Are we going to behave?” asked the spokeswoman, before being interrupted again by Ateba, before which some reporters intervened to ask her to shut up, shouting: “Silence” and “Decorum”.
After apologizing to the actors of “Ted Lasso”, Jean-Pierre was finally able to officially introduce them and then gave the floor to Jason Sudeikis, the protagonist of the series, to talk about the reasons for his meeting with Biden.
Once the actors left, Ateba yelled again and accused the spokesperson of discriminating against him and not letting him ask, which caused even more anger among the rest of the reporters who reproached him for his behavior and asked him to behave.
“This is the White House press room, a historic room, a room in which there should be decorum, a room in which everyone should respect their peers and respect the guests we have,” the spokeswoman intervened. the White House.
Jean-Pierre considered that in press conferences there is always a “tug of war” between the reporters and the spokesperson; But he said that what is not right is to disrespect other journalists or those who have been invited to the White House to speak, such as the cast of “Ted Lasso.”
After the press conference, Ateba announced on his Twitter account that he had been invited to the show tonight by one of the star presenters of the conservative Fox network, Tucker Carlson, to talk about what he perceives as discrimination by from the White House.
The daily White House press briefings typically last an hour, and reporters raise their hands to ask the spokesperson to speak, but rarely yell at her to get her attention.
They usually don’t generate major news, but that daily routine is seen in the US as a fundamental part of the government’s accountability obligation.
