President Barack Obama is a fan of actor and director Clint Eastwood but remained coy when reporters questioned his thoughts about the speech the actor gave during the Republican National Convention on August 30.
President Obama recently USA Today that he is a “huge Clint Eastwood fan” and that he believes the Academy Award-winner is “a great actor, and an even better director.”
When asked if he was offended by Eastwood’s criticism, President Obama said, “One thing about being president or running for president — if you’re easily offended, you should probably choose another profession.”
Eastwood delivered an unscripted speech at the Republican National Convention in which he continuously addressed an empty chair as President Obama.
The actor and director also spoke of Obama’s unfulfilled promise to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the unemployment rate in the country and lawyers.
“When somebody doesn’t do the job, you gotta let ’em go,” Eastwood said.
President Obama’s Twitter account responded to the Oscar winner’s joke by posting a photo of himself shown sitting at a chair that read “The President.”
“This seat’s taken,” the U.S. leader wrote.
Immediately after Eastwood’s speech a parody Twitter account called “Invisible Obama” began Tweeting about the convention and Eastwood. At press time the account had over 67,000 followers.