HARLEM — Mayor Bill de Blasio said he stands behind his controversial joke about "colored people time" — even after President Obama zinged him for it at the White House Correspondents' Dinner over the weekend.
"It is an honor to be cooked by the leader of the free world," de Blasio said on Hot 97 Monday morning when the hosts mentioned the Obama joke.
During his monologue, Obama referenced the controversy when he said: "I do apologize, you know I was a little late tonight. I was running on C.P.T., which stands for 'jokes that white people should not make.'"
De Blasio said he enjoyed the president's joke.
"It's funny. But when the president of the United States makes a joke about something, that's kind of cool," de Blasio said. "Look at the bright side."
But not everyone was laughing at de Blasio's original joke.
Christina Greer, a professor of political science at Fordham University, said de Blasio's joke showed "poor judgment."
During the Inner Circle Show, a black-tie political roast that brings together journalists, politicians and lobbyists, de Blasio was doing a skit with Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she said the mayor took a long time to endorse her candidacy last year.
The mayor responded: "I was running on C.P. time," a reference to the stereotype that African-Americans are often running late. Clinton's punch line, which followed, implied that de Blasio meant "cautious politician time."
De Blasio, who is married to a black woman, Chirlane McCray, and has two children who are usually referred to as African-American, faced criticism over using the term, which is normally only used by African-Americans themselves.
"The operative words are that it's a joke commonly used among African-Americans. There's a time and a place for inside jokes but this is a room where half the people didn't get the joke. Why would you risk so much political capital?" Greer asked.
Clinton, making a strong push for the African-American vote, also had to answer questions about the joke.
But the mayor, who took full responsibility for the joke, said the term was satire meant to make fun of his own well-documented lateness.
"Of course it sets up a joke on myself," de Blasio said on air. "I hope we can understand when satire is satire. And you have to laugh at yourself in life and in public life especially."
Greer said the mayor should have used a more straightforward joke.
"The mayor is always late. Why can't he just make the joke about him being late? Everyone in that room had waited for him at some point and would have cracked up," Greer said.
Host Old Man Ebro asked de Blasio if he regretted the joke.
"In the sense that it's gotten all this attention. It certainly was not meant to be offensive in any way," de Blasio said. "I'm sad that that's all happened, but again, I keep saying, it was a satire. The whole show was a satire."
And then Ebro referenced the use of the "N' word by White House Correspondent Dinner host Larry Wilmore.
"Yo, Barry, you did it my n---a!" Wilmore said in reflecting on Obama's presidency.
De Blasio did not take the bait.
"Now that's going a little farther," the mayor said.
