White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was triggered Monday when Today News Africa correspondent Simon Ateba attempted to confront her amid an ongoing press briefing.
The press secretary appeared flustered as Ateba began shouting at her from across the room about not being called on, as she was flanked on both sides by the cast of the Apple TV+ original comedy-drama Ted Lasso.
“Welcome guys. Welcome to the press briefing room,” Jean-Pierre began to say as Ateba interrupted her.
“It’s been seven months. You’ve not called on me. I’m saying that’s not right,” Ateba told Jean-Pierre.
“No, no, we’re not doing this,” Jean-Pierre snapped back. “We’re not doing this, we’re not doing this, we’re not doing this!”
“This is not China. This is not Russia. What you are doing you’re making a mockery of the First Amendment,” the reporter told the press secretary.
Incredibly, Ateba’s colleagues joined in helping Jean-Pierre to attempt to silence the journalist as he voiced his concerns.
“You’re in the front row, and you’ve been comfy, and you get questions all the time,” Ateba responded to Reuters reporter Jeff Mason. “There are people in the back who don’t get any questions!”
Playboy correspondent Brian Karem reportedly shouted at Ateba, “Don’t make assumptions about what the rest of us do. Mind your manners when you’re in here, and if you have a problem, you bring it up afterwards! But you are impinging on everybody in here who are only trying to do their jobs!”
Jean-Pierre addressed “decorum” following the tense exchange, saying,
“As you know, this is the White House press briefing room. A historic room. A room that should have decorum. A room where folks should respect their colleagues and respect the guests that are here. And I understand that there’s going to be give and take. That’s the way the press briefing has gone for decades before me.”
The outburst also led to White House Correspondents Association president Tamara Keith, who Ateba has blamed for refusing to renew his WHCA membership, issuing a memo decrying the “extreme breakdown of decorum.”
“What happened today created a hostile work environment for everyone in that room,” Keith’s memo stated, according to The Hill.
Ateba later joined Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” condemning the press secretary for disrespecting the First Amendment.
“The First Amendment says that I have the right to ask questions—to do my job,” Ateba told Carlson.
“The press secretary doesn’t need to like me, date me, marry me, have two Black children with me. She doesn’t need all that,” he added. “She doesn’t even need to like my accent—doesn’t even need to like what I look like [or] where I come from. They look down on me. They don’t respect the First Amendment.”
