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Obama: Kanye West Still a 'Jackass, But He's Talented,' Jay-Z Is No. 1 Choice

Posted Apr 12th 2012 3:30PM by Theo Bark
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Pascal Le Segretain, Getty Images

Looks like Kanye West is still not entirely off the hook with President Obama. In The Atlantic's recent feature on the emotional rapper-turned-fashionista, the commander-in-chief is polled on his favorite Watch the Throne MC, and chooses Jay-Z, quipping that, albeit "talented," 'Ye is still "a jackass."

"Although I like Kanye," Obama explains. "He's a Chicago guy. Smart. He's very talented."

"Even though you called him a jackass?," the journalist, David Samuels, inquires.

"He is a jackass," the president responds. "But he's talented."

Kanye's "jackass" designation dates back to his Taylor Swift gaffe at the 2009 MTV Video Music awards, after which Obama commented "The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She's getting her award. What's he doing up there? He's a jackass."

Following the debacle, Kanye went into a self-imposed exile for over a year, during which time his fashion career began to take shape, while living in Rome and Japan, interning at Fendi, and apprenticing under Italian designer Giuseppe Zanotti.

Meanwhile, has anyone asked Obama who killed Tupac? Seems like he might give us an answer.

Watch 'Diddy Supports Kanye West at Fashion Show in Paris'

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