News/Commentary

WH reporter asked for one word to describe Karine Jean-Pierre and the results rolled in

December 20, 2023 | | Print Article

Today News Africa reporter Simon Ateba who has an ongoing feud with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre engaged in a bit of trolling when he asked social media users what one word best describes the president’s top spox.

As one of a very small number of White House reporters who don’t play the game, Ateba has repeatedly gotten under the skin of President Joe Biden’s diversity hire, most recently when his asking questions caused her to stomp off in a huff earlier this month.

On Tuesday, the African journalist served up a bit of early holiday cheer on X, formerly known as Twitter when he wrote, “Good morning, folks. In just one word, kindly describe the first black person, the first black woman, and the first openly lesbian to serve as
@WhiteHouse @PressSec, Karine Jean-Pierre,” Ateba wrote, turning the floor over to respondents.

And the results rolled in:

While some users failed to follow Ateba’s instructions by sticking to the parameters, their responses were well inside of the ballpark when it came to describing the historic first,black lesbian immigrant to be trotted out at the podium.

There was such an overwhelming response that the reporter had to explain that he was unable to respond to everyone.

On Monday, Ateba posted a doctored video of Jean-Pierre morphed into Barack Obama that’s been making the rounds.

“I am highly disappointed and even heartbroken that in the citadel of democracy, and in the most powerful house in the world, I’m being discriminated against for a year for trying to do my job while journalist colleagues remain silent. May God help me,” Ateba wrote on X after Biden’s spox refused to call on him and then stormed out of the room during an early December daily press briefing.

The incident was just the latest in a series with the bad blood between the two boiling over earlier this year when Ateba sued Jean-Pierre and the Secret Service over unconstitutionally revoking his press badge after a series of confrontations. One of them was when the Cameroon native sparred with her after she brought in the cast of Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso,” accusing her of making a “mockery of the First Amendment” for refusing to call on him.

Chris Donaldson
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