***NEWT GINGRICH FIRES BACK, DEMANDS APOLOGY***
The New York stars came out for a $5k/head ($25k/head to mingle with the First Lady) fundraiser held by Michelle Obama. It was co-hosted by Robert De Niro who has thrown his full support behind the Obamas and was quick to play the race card at the fundraiser:
DAILY MAIL – Speaking at the Locanda Verde restaurant in the Greenwich Hotel, which he owns, De Niro said: ‘Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?’
A crowd member yelled, ‘No!’, to which De Niro added: ‘Too soon, right?’
Check out the Daily Mail for photos of celebrities that came out to support the Obama campaign.
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UPDATE: CNN reports that Newt Gingrich found the comments by De Niro inexcusable and demands an apology from Obama:
Speaking Tuesday, Gingrich labeled the comments “inexcusable,” and called on Obama to apologize.
“I do want to say one thing, both on behalf of my wife and on behalf of Karen Santorum and on behalf of Ann Romney, I think that Robert De Niro’s wrong,” Gingrich said. “I think the country is ready for a new first lady and he doesn’t have to describe it in racial terms.”
Gingrich immediately clarified he thought Michelle Obama, along with the wives of his fellow GOP presidential candidates, were all “fine ladies.”
“But this is not about the first lady,” Gingrich continued. “It’s about the president. That’s where De Niro missed the whole point. De Niro is rich enough he probably doesn’t notice the price of gasoline. He’s successful enough he probably doesn’t notice the unemployment rate. As the Hollywood actor, he might well be shortsighted enough he doesn’t understand what it might do to our children and our grandchildren.”
Gingrich called on Obama to apologize for the remarks, since they were made at an event raising money for his reelection.
“What De Niro said last night was inexcusable and the president should apologize for him. It was at an Obama fundraiser, it is exactly wrong, it divides the country,” Gingrich said, adding that the left was quick to call out conservative talk show hosts for offensive comments but silent when the vitriol comes from the left.
“If people on the left want to talk about talk show hosts, then everybody in the country should hold the president accountable when someone at his event says something that is utterly and terrible unacceptable as what Robert De Niro said,” Gingrich said.