Marc Maron defends Obama's use of the N-word
Comedian Marc Maron is best known for interviewing the world's biggest celebrities in a garage for his aptly named "WTF" podcast. This past week, he banked the most prestigious guest of all, President Obama. The candid hour-long conversation made headlines across the nation for the president's use of the N-word and had 900,000 downloads in just 36 hours.
"About a year ago, the White House reached out to my producer, Brendan McDonald, and said, 'We like the show, we might be interested in doing something,'" Maron said on "CBS This Morning: Saturday."
When Maron learned the president was coming to his garage, he went from excited to nervous.
"I'm like, 'That's crazy. He's gonna come to my house? My bathroom door doesn't even work,'" Maron said.
In order to host the president in his garage, the Secret Service tented the driveway and put snipers around the home.
"My podcast is really about talking candidly one on one, about whatever someone wants to talk about, but I like it to be an authentic conversation and have some connection so you can feel the person as a person," Maron said. "I didn't know if I would be able to do that with the president."
And the conversation was definitely candid. Mr. Obama's use of the N-word during the podcast started a nationwide debate that led to the White House issuing a response on the subject. Maron defended the president's actions completely, saying the public and media took it out of context.
"As a comic, it wasn't that jarring to me," Maron said. "But to frame it correctly, he said the N-word to talk about using the N-word and what that implicates. It was a broader statement about racism."
Despite any backlash, Maron said the interview with the president was an amazing day and he won't let any bad press affect those memories.
"It was something most people could not expect to happen in their entire lives," Maron said.