Comedy Central's Keegan-Michael Key: 'If You Don't Like Michelle Obama … You Can Go to Hell'

Now we know why the Comedy Central sketch show “Keegan & Peele” hasn’t laid a comedic glove on President Barack Obama so far.

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, the stars of the new show which just got picked up for a second season, gave an interview to Think Progress where they shared their thoughts on the First Family.

Key and Peele

Jordan, you’ve got this incredible Obama impression. Keegan, do you ever think about adding a Michelle impression to fill out the roster?

Keegan: Maybe. Maybe I should start doing Michele.

Jordan: Michelle is on the border of sacred to me right now.

Keegan: That’s pretty close for me right now. I don’t think we’re going to mess with Michelle and not because we’re afraid of her.

Jordan: She’s just so awesome. I love her too much.

Keegan: We’re a senseitive [sic] about that one. You know what, you’re a jerk if you don’t like Michelle Obama. If you don’t like Michelle Obama, you didn’t like Eleanor Roosevelt, so as far as I’m concerned, you can go to hell.

Jordan: We’d have to do it with the most finessed stroke, where we let the audience sigh and fall in love with her…When I hear people talk smack about Michelle, it drives me so crazy. What on earth has this woman done?

Later in the interview, Michael-Key essentially calls conservative critics of Obama racists.

Keegan: I think [the presidency] is a miserable straightjacket for anybody. Part of the frustration is when others make it racial. They keep couching it in everything else. Talk about code-talking. I would respect you so much more if you said you were uncomfortable with black people or afraid of them. Just say it. At least we could start there and then we could talk about issues. I’m a big fan of George Lakoff, the behaviorist. Conservatives are so good, just absolute maestros, and with lots of think tanks working in this direction, we have to figure out how we can frame things to get at people’s fears. The president frames things in a much more 18th-century way, “You’re reasonable people and I expect you to look at facts.” He’ll do that through actions as well as words, and that’s threatening to people.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.