Former
President Barack Obama resurfaced on Friday and took a shot at Fox News
viewers, saying they’re “living on a different planet” than people who
consume mainstream media.
Obama made the remarks on the premiere of the new monthly Netflix series
“My next guest needs no introduction with David Letterman,” which hit
the streaming service on Friday morning. Early in the episode, Obama
asked Letterman about his retirement but the veteran talk show host
quickly let the former president know who was boss.
“Now here’s how this is gonna work. I’m gonna ask you stuff, and then
you respond to stuff,” Letterman joked.
Letterman then asked Obama what he considers the more dangerous threat
to a democracy, the president demeaning the press or a foreign power
sabotaging the voting process. Both options are clearly jabs at
President Trump and Obama answered without mentioning the current
president’s name.
“One of the biggest challenges we have to our democracy is the degree to
which we don’t share a common baseline of facts,” Obama said. "If you
watch Fox News, you are living on a different planet than you are if you
are listening to NPR.”
"If you watch Fox News, you are living on a different planet than you
are if you are listening to NPR.”
- Barack Obama
The response got a big round of applause from the presumably liberal
crowd at the City College of New York. Obama has a long history of
taking shots at Fox News but the recent comment marks his first public
attack on the network and its viewers since leaving the White House.
While Trump is often criticized for attacking the media and labeling CNN
as “fake news,” Obama’s comment is a reminder that the White House and
the press have sparred for decades. Obama once even accused Fox News of
“attacking” his administration during an interview with CNBC.
Letterman said goodbye to his long-running talk show two years ago and
has launched a six-episode series on Netflix. In each hour-long episode,
Letterman conducts a long-form conversation with a single guest, and
explores topics of his own outside the studio.
George Clooney, Malala Yousafzai, Jay-Z, Tina Fey, and Howard Stern are
scheduled to be guests on Letterman’s show over the next five months.
Brian Flood covers the media for Fox News. Follow him on Twitter at @briansflood.
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