New York Mayor De Blasio Faces Criticism for Joking About 'CP Time' With Hillary Clinton
The remark was made at Inner Circle's annual event in New York City.
NEW YORK CITY -- New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is facing some criticism for joking about "CP time" while performing in a comedic sketch alongside Hillary Clinton at a charity event over the weekend.
During Inner Circle's annual event in New York City that includes musical and comedy performances by local politicians and reporters, Clinton made a surprise cameo during a scripted scene with de Blasio and Leslie Odom Jr., who plays Aaron Burr in the Broadway show “Hamilton.”
Clinton joked with de Blasio about how long it took him to endorse her for president, to which the New York City mayor (and Clinton's former Senate campaign manager) quipped back, “Sorry, Hillary. I was running on CP time." The remark is an apparent reference to colored people time -- a phrase sometimes used as a stereotypical reference to black people supposedly being late to everything.
In a video of the skit, released by the mayor's office on Sunday night, the audience appears to laugh awkwardly at the remark. One man in the crowd can be heard shouting, “No!"
"That’s not -- I don’t, I don’t like jokes like that, Bill,” Odom, who is African-American, said.
Clinton then interjected. “Cautious politician time," she explained. “I’ve been there.”
De Blasio, whose wife is black, explained the joke during an interview on CNN on Monday night. "It was clearly a staged show. It was a scripted show. The whole idea was to do the counter-intuitive by saying cautious politician time. Every actor thought it was a joke on a different convention. That was the whole idea," he said. "I think people are missing the point here."
It's an annual tradition for the mayor of New York to perform at the Inner Circle Show. In the past, Rudy Giuliani appeared in drag, David Dinkins rode on a donkey he dubbed, “The Burro of Manhattan,” and Michael Bloomberg floated over the stage in spandex as a superhero.
You can watch the video below:
"During an evening of satire, the only person this comment was meant to mock was the mayor," de Blasio's office said in a statement. "Certainly no one intended to offend anyone."
A rep for Clinton said: "We agree with the mayor."