Politics

The Obama-PSY Handshake from Hell

The two met Sunday at the "Christmas in Washington" charity concert, and according to the etiquette of the conservative chattering class, the president was not supposed to shake the pop singer's hand.

By Alexander Abad-Santos
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After discovering on Friday that PSY had once spouted a lot of very not nice things about our troops, Americans may no no longer see him as the lovable horse-dancing star we thought we knew and loved — especially not American conservatives, and especially not after last night. Even though he's apologized, PSY seems to have become (temporarily, at least) the kind of anti-American symbol that can only be killed with fire, and right-wing pundits especially want you to know that President Obama is still okay with him. The two met Sunday at the "Christmas in Washington" charity concert — two days after PSY had apologized for lyrics he rapped in 2004, which called for the killing of American servicemen. And according to the etiquette of the conservative chattering class, the president was not supposed to shake the pop singer's hand. Of course, from the tone of the reaction, the right is actually kind of glad that he did, because it can accuse the president of more malicious intentions:

A simple search on Twitter (your feed may be different) finds this sentiment:

This isn't the first time Obama has been accused of making nice with stars with controversial lyrics. Back during the campaign, conservatives tossed around words like "misogyny" and "racism" when Jay-Z opened for the president during a campaign stop in Columbus, and they smeared Lena Dunham when she made an ad which supported Obama.

Never mind that some conservatives invoke the First Amendment when, says, Ted Nugent has to cancel his concert after threatening to kill Obama. "Even though the Secret Service determined that recent remarks the musician made regarding the president did not violate any laws, our Obama-led government still decided to mete out its own Obama-style punishment," wrote Gateway Pundit's Andrea Ryan. No word yet on if Ryan was satisfied an "Obama-style punishment" wasn't enforced on PSY.

"I understand the sacrifices American servicemen and women have made to protect freedom and democracy in my country and around the world," PSY said in a statement. He said the song "was part of a deeply emotional reaction to the war in Iraq and the killing of two Korean schoolgirls that was part of the overall anti-war sentiment shared by others around the world at that time." CNN reports that the song was made when two Korean girls were struck by a U.S. military vehicle — not that those facts will change the minds of angry people on Twitter or anything.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.