Jen Psaki Laughs and Delivers Odd Lyrical Tribute When Reporter Shouts ‘Does the President Like Meat Loaf?’

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki delivered a cryptic lyrical tribute to Meat Loaf when a reporter shouted a question about the recently-deceased rocker.

At Friday’s briefing, Ms. Psaki took questions for about 30 minutes, a “short time window” because reporters needed to gather for an upcoming event with President Joe Biden.

On the way out of the briefing, Psaki received an unusual variation on the shouted end-of-briefing question when a reporter asked “Does the President like Meat Loaf?”

Psaki laughed and gave a mysterious reply, with an assist from Principal White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:

MS. PSAKI: I don’t — I would — what the phrase? “I would do anything for love”? Is that (inaudible)?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, that’s right. (Laughs.) You got it.

MS. PSAKI: He might say that.

The reporter was obviously referring to rock legend Meat Loaf Aday’s death, which was announced Friday morning. The rocker — born Marvin Lee Aday — had earlier been memorialized by former President Donald Trump in a brief statement that referenced their connection via the television show Celebrity Apprentice.

The lyric that Psaki struggled to remember is from the song “I Would Do Anything For Love,” the next line of which is “but I won’t do that…”

What does that tell us about the president’s feelings about the late singer?

Well, according to an analysis of the president’s musical preferences by Rock NYC, Meat Loaf doesn’t appear on any of Biden’s playlists:

At the beginning of this long race, when Biden was not even the official Democratic candidate, The New York Times published a playlist for each candidate and Biden’s included a few of his favorites: Bleachers (‘Rollercoaster’), David Bowie (‘Heroes’), Bruce Springsteen (‘We Take Care of Our Own’), The Head and the Heart ‘(All We Ever Knew’), The 1975 (‘The Sound’), Lady Gaga (‘The Edge of Glory’), Moon Taxi (‘Two High’), The Revivalists (‘Keep Going’), Dierks Bentley (‘Home’), Bill Withers (‘Lovely Day’), Jackie Wilson (‘Higher & Higher’), Aretha Franklin (‘The Weight’), Diana Ross (‘I’m Coming Out’), The Spinners (‘Could It Be I’m Falling in Love’), Sam Cooke (‘Good Times’), Womack & Womack (‘Teardrops’), Stevie Wonder (‘All I Do’), Darius Rucker (‘Learn to Live’), King Curtis (‘The Weight’).

In 2016, Rolling Stone published another playlist picked by the Bidens (Joe and Jill) and, this time, it included the Sam Smith (‘Stay With Me ’), The Beatles (‘Come Together’), Joe Cocker (‘You Are So Beautiful’), Bruce Springsteen (‘We Take Care of Our Own’), Les Miserables (‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’), Adele (‘Hello ’), Lady Gaga (‘Til It Happens To You ’), Al Green (‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand ’), Frank Sinatra (‘My Way ’), Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You’), Tina Turner (‘The Best’), Coldplay (‘Til Kingdom Come’), Rod Stewart (‘If We Fall In Love Tonight ’), k.d. lang (‘Hallelujah’), Ray Charles & Diana Krall (‘You Don’t Know Me ’)

Lastly, this older article (from 2012) noticed that Biden favored Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, and Tina Turner, that he liked to work out to ‘Born to Run,’ and played Tina Turner’s ‘Simply the Best’ in his car.

The world will have to wait to know for sure — until some enterprising reporter definitely asks the president about it at his next press conference.

Watch above via C-Span.

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