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President Barack Obama was interviewed in the East Room of the White House in a livestream broadcast by three YouTube “stars” rather than by the usual press corps reporters. The president sat down with GloZell Green, Hank Green (no relation), and Bethany Mota.
GloZell is known for her bright green lipstick, eating hot peppers and spoonfuls of cinnamon, and sitting in a bathtub full of cereal. She has more than 3.3 million followers on YouTube.
Bethany Mota is a teenager who makes videos about fashion, beauty, and style. She has over 8 million YouTube subscribers.
Hank Green is a musician, vlogger, and professional nerd who creates videos with his brother, John, about science and history. He has nearly 2.5 million subscribers to his YouTube channel.
GloZell, wearing a scarf of green and white along with her trademark green lipstick offered the president some gifts for the First Family. She said, “I have green lipsticks, one for your first wife.” The popular YouTube personality immediately corrected herself as the president cracked,
“You know something I don’t?”
Ms. Green was very embarrassed about her gaffe, but the president laughed and told her he was going to ask the First Lady to try the lipstick that night.
Hank Green asked the president to sign a photograph of himself with a pharmacy receipt for $5.00 for his medication that used to cost $1,100 per month. Mr. Green thanked the president for the implementation of the health care law.
“Before I had insurance, I could not take this medication — it’s about eleven hundred dollars a month. And that is a receipt showing it being five dollars a month. So, Obamacare has worked for me. So, thanks for that.”
The president responded,
“Obamacare has worked and that makes me feel good.”
The president went on to tout his perception of the success of the Affordable Care Act by encouraging young people to go to the website that now “works really well.”
Mota continued with the softball questions:
“If you could have any superpower, what would it be?”
As if being President of the United States is not the ultimate superpower, Mr. Obama chose flying.
“Any superpower? You know, I guess, like, the flying thing seems pretty cool. Right? Sort of zipping around. You know, as long as you could stay warm.”
The president was cautious about choosing invisibility as his fantasy superpower.
“The invisibility thing seems, like, a little sneaky to me. You know, it’s like, what are you gonna be doing with that? You going to be listening in on people’s conversations?”
As the hour-long interview session wrapped up, the three YouTube personalities crowded together so Bethany could take a selfie with her smartphone.
Earlier that day, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One that the interview with these three popular YouTube content creators was simply “an effort to engage as many Americans as possible in a variety of venues to discuss the president’s priorities.”
President Obama will not be meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he comes to the U.S. in March to speak to a joint session of Congress to discuss new sanctions on Iran.
h/t: Daily Mail
BCN editor’s note: This article first appeared at Western Journalism.
