Simon Ateba and several journalists say that Karine Jean-Pierre was mean to them.
The White House press briefing got out of hand when a reporter said that Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was “mocking the First Amendment.”
On Monday, Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, and the rest of the cast of “Ted Lasso” held a press conference to talk about their experiences with mental health. While the Hollywood stars awkwardly stood behind Jean-Pierre, Simon Ateba, who is Today News Africa’s main White House correspondent, started shouting.
Ateba was not happy with the answer and said that Jean-Pierre had never asked him a question in the last seven months. The reporter kept saying that the White House had been unfair to him and his fellow reporters.
“China has nothing to do with the setting. Russia has nothing to do with this place. By acting like this, you make fun of the First Amendment.” This is something Ateba once said.
When Ateba was on his rant, a woman who couldn’t be seen yelled at him, “Decorum!” Karine Jean-Pierre tried to lighten the mood by telling the Lasso cast, “Good times, welcome, gentlemen.” She then turned to Ateba and asked if he was “going to behave.”
The White House press pool seemed annoyed by Ateba’s mumbling and ranting about what Jean did. Pierre’s
Jean-Pierre would often wait for Ateba to finish what he was saying before going on.
Even though the actors from Lasso had already left the room, Ateba kept going on and on. He seemed to imply that the reporters in the front row were given more time to talk than those in the back.
Ateba’s rude attitude made one journalist want to vent, while another said, “Simon, it’s not just about you.”
“Don’t assume what the rest of us do, mind your manners while you’re in here, and if you have a problem, bring it up afterward,” said another reporter. “You’re getting in the way of everyone who’s just trying to do their job.”
Once a lot of people in the media establishment started to say bad things about Ateba, he calmed down.
Later, Jean-Pierre gave more information by saying: “You’re at the White House and in the room where the press briefings happen. A chamber from a long time ago. There are rules about how to act here. Everyone here should treat each other and the guests with kindness. I know that both sides will have to give a little something. The news briefing has been done this way for decades before I was born.”
After that, Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller apologized to Jean-Pierre on behalf of the media for what Ateba did during the briefing. He did this by saying that he had a “point of personal privilege.”
“Please accept my sincere apologies to the press and viewers at home on behalf of everyone who was on the show that just ended. Since they can’t all be here in person, we have to ask questions on their behalf to make sure their government is doing what it should. This whole thing doesn’t matter to us “based on what the newscaster said.
Ateba and Jean-Pierre are always getting into fights, which everyone knows.
Jean-Pierre punished Ateba in December 2022 for talking out of turn when he asked Diana Glebova, a reporter for the Daily Call, why she couldn’t ask Dr. Anthony Fauci a question about where COVID-19 came from.
Ateba says that Jean-Pierre told him they can’t meet until 2024 so that she could avoid answering his questions.