Update at 3:12 p.m.:
A Barack Obama impersonator who got the hook at this weekend's Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans is defending his act against charges of racism.
"I don't think I crossed any sorts of lines," Reggie Brown told MSNBC.
RLC members criticized Brown for jokes about Obama's biracial background, though MSNBC suggested that the Republicans stopped his act because of his cracks about GOP presidential candidates.
Earlier post:
A Barack Obama impersonator didn't score very well at this weekend's Republican Leadership Conference meeting.
Event organizers escorted comedian Reggie Brown from the stage after he made racially tinged jokes about Obama and mocked some of the Republican presidential candidates.
"My mother loved a black man and, no, she was not a Kardashian," Brown said, employing Obama's voice and gestures.
Brown joked that Obama celebrates only half of African-American History Month.
In discussing how the presidency ages its occupants, Brown flashed a photo of comedian Redd Foxx in his 1970s television role as junkman Fred Sanford.
He mocked Tim Pawlenty for refusing to confront Romney about health care at a recent debate, saying Pawlenty skipped the Republican Leadership Conference because he was "having his foot surgically removed from his mouth."
"Don't worry," Brown said. "It's covered under Obamneycare. Along with spinal transplants."
As for Newt Gingrich, who lost his top campaign aides, Brown said, "His supporters are dropping faster than Anthony Weiner's pants."
Though a conference official escorted Brown off the stage, Brown said it was an issue of time, Gawker reports. According to Brown:
I think I delivered a great performance, and when I got offstage, as I exited, the audience the responded well. The organizers complimented me. They had a great time. I thought it was a great performance. Then we went back to read what a few people had written on blogs, and there was a different story.
What happened is that I went over my minutes. They told me I had 20, but they aired a video before me and then my intro took up more time. When our liaison — the guy who introduced me – came up to me onstage, he said, "Hey, I am sorry—your time is up," and so I finished and went backstage. I was told it was because of my time, not my act, not because of anything I said.
I got a lot of fan mail this weekend, a lot of support, a lot of people subscribing to my Twitter and YouTube accounts, and the phone's been ringing off the hook.
Charlie Davis, who ran the Republican Leadership Conference, said in a statement:
The RLC is designed to showcase the top Republican leaders and ideas in the country -- to talk about limited government, fiscal responsibility and rebuilding the American economy.
Had I been in the room I would have pulled him sooner. We have zero tolerance for racially insensitive jokes. As soon as I realized what was going on I rushed backstage and had him pulled,
Here is more of Brown's routine:
(via USAtoday)