Some Chinese Offended by ‘Rapper’ Obama Chewing Gum During State Visit

Some people in China took exception with President Obama‘s behavior during a trip to the country this week for an economic conference with other world leaders.

At the start of the meetings on Monday, Obama turned down a car the Chinese provided for him for transportation, choosing instead to use a U.S. State Deptartment limousine, according to the Wall Street Journal. He also chewed gum in front of dignitaries.

Reaction from Chinese bloggers, via USA Today:

Chinese Internet users, accustomed to the highly formal standards of their stiff party leadership, quickly characterized the leader of the world’s most powerful nation as an impolite “idler,” or careless “rapper.”

“We made this meeting so luxurious, with singing and dancing, but see Obama, stepping out of his car chewing gum like an idler,” wrote Yin Hong, a professor of journalism at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo micro-blog service.

And this from the Journal:

But amid the pillories, some sense of humor survived. One blogger said the gum-chewing made Mr. Obama look like a hip-hop artist as he emerged from the car. Another said it must be a case of the butterflies. “He must be nervous,” the blogger wrote. “If Kim Jong-Un came, there would definitely not be any chewing of gum!”

Obama’s wearing of the purple, silk traditional Chinese “Mao suit” just wasn’t enough, apparently.

[Photo via RT/screen grab]

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