White House, reporters fight back against subversive journalist at press briefing

A White House press briefing featuring the cast of “Ted Lasso” was briefly derailed Monday after the correspondent and frequent offender repeatedly interfered, prompting an outcry from the White House Correspondents Association and other reporters.

Simon Ateba, correspondent for Today News Africa, began to scream as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stepped onto the podium, joined by actors Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt and Tohib Jimo.

Ateba, who often speaks out of turn in the briefing room and has clashed with Jean-Pierre in the past, said he and others in the room are being “discriminated against” because of the questions they wanted to ask.

“It’s been seven months. You didn’t call me. I say it is wrong,” Ateba said.

“Welcome guys. Welcome to the press briefing room,” Jean-Pierre told the Theda Lasso cast present before Ateba began to voice his complaints again.

While Ateba had previously made similar accusations of discrimination and criticized Jean-Pierre during briefings, Monday’s outbreak drew more denials than usual from other reporters in the room, who were frustrated that Ateba was delaying and disrupting the proceedings.

“Forgive our guests. We apologize,” said Kelly O’Donnell, NBC News correspondent and WHCA vice president.

When Ateba intervened again before National Security spokesman John Kirby took the podium, several reporters reacted.

“If you have a complaint, you should bring it to her later… The press corps is tired of doing this,” said Jeff Mason, a Reuters correspondent and former WHCA president.

Brian Karem, an experienced White House reporter who attends occasional briefings, told Atebe to “watch your manners when you’re here.”

“If you have a problem, you bring it up later, but you force yourself on everyone here who is just trying to do their job,” he said.

Jean-Pierre responded by noting the history of the press briefing, which she said “should have the decorum”.

“I understand that they will give and take. This has been the press briefing for decades, before me, and I will always, always respect that, but what I won’t, what I don’t appreciate, is disrespect for my colleagues and disrespect for the guests who are here to talk, who were here to talk about the incredibly important issue of mental health,” she said. “And what just happened in these last 10-15 minutes is unacceptable.”

Associated Press correspondent Zeke Miller, also a former WHCA president, began interrogating Jean-Pierre, apologizing for the incident earlier in the briefing.

“I just want to express our apologies from the press office to the people who watched the screening you saw earlier at home. Our responsibility is to them,” Miller said.

Following the briefing, WHCA President Tamara Keith, in a memo to members, lamented the “extreme breach of decorum” on Monday.

“What happened today has created a hostile work environment for everyone in this room,” Keith wrote.

Monday was far from the first time that Ateba had disrupted a press briefing.

Last May, he was reprimanded after yelling at another reporter who complained about not being called enough at the final briefing by former press secretary Jen Psaki. The WHCA alerted Ateba to a possible exclusion following this incident.

Last September, he was called to a briefing with Kirby and asked a former Pentagon spokesman to clarify his role, stating that “everywhere I go, black people tell me the reason you’re in the White House is because is to undermine the first female black secretary”.

Similarly, he yelled out questions when other reporters were called in during Dr. Anthony Fauci’s latest briefing late last year, prompting a rebuke from Jean-Pierre.

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In December, Jean-Pierre abruptly cut short a briefing when, after calling The Hill with a question, Ateba began yelling complaints about not being called often and not giving in.

Ateba had previously appeared on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show to complain about discrimination. He is due to appear on the Carlson show on Monday night.

Updated 17:06

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