“Homeland” star Damian Lewis has become quite chummy with the Commander in Chief.
Seems President Barack Obama is a big fan of Lewis’ Showtime terrorism-themed series, and the pair even communicate via email. A recent exchange, shared by the actor while appearing on a British talk show, brought up a long-simmering fear some Americans have about the president’s religious persuasion.
During an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show Saturday night, the Emmy-winning actor says the president wanted a signed DVD box set of the Showtime hit to give to the Teamsters labor union (the president has previously revealed Homeland is his favorite show). Lewis says co-star Claire Danes wrote something along the lines of, “I was a fan of yours long before you were a fan of ours.” But when it was the British-born Lewis’ turn, the actor says he jokingly wrote: “From one Muslim to another.”
It’s fine for an American president to take time out to unwind with a popular TV show. But Lewis’s interview also included this nugget, the kind of revelation that would have been a mini-scandal had Obama’s predecessor uttered it.
Lewis adds that he asked the president during a dinner how he finds time to watch the show. “Aren’t you busy running the free world?” the actor recalls asking. Lewis, while impersonating the president’s speech cadence, says Obama replied: “On Saturday afternoons. Michelle, she takes the two girls, they go play tennis. I go into the Oval Office. I pretend I’m gonna work and I switch on Homeland.”