Former President Barack Obama reportedly visited the USA Men’s Basketball team earlier this week as they celebrated USA Basketball’s 50th Anniversary ahead of their journey to the Olympics. Obama reportedly wished the team luck while also honoring legendary hall of famers of the sport.
A video of Obama congratulating Team USA has now gone viral. Obama’s interactions with the players and the coaches of the team were pointed out to be awfully similar to a Key & Peele skit that sees a parody of President Obama (at the time) treating different supporters differently.
Barack Obama Unwittingly Recreates Famous Key & Peele Skit
Before Jordan Peele became a modern-day horror auteur and Keegan Michael-Key became an accomplished actor, the two were hosts and participants of the sketch show Key & Peel. The Comedy Central show saw the duo perform in multiple filmed sketches which parodied current affairs at the time.
One of the most viewed and popular sketches was their skit titled ‘Obama Meet and Greet’. Peele played President Barack Obama in the skit while Michael-Key played a supporter in a rally. It sees Obama shaking hands with multiple supporters but treating them differently. He is more casual with Black supporters while being formal with his White supporters.
While the skit still makes the rounds at times on the Internet, fans were quick to notice Barack Obama’s recent meet and greet with the USA Men’s Basketball team bore a striking resemblance to it. The former president is seen congratulating Team USA’s players such as LeBron James and Steph Curry with a hug while his demeanor changes with the coaches.
It is not confirmed whether Obama did it intentionally but the resemblance to the skit is uncanny and shows that Key and Peele had made an astute observation.
Barack Obama Encourages Team USA To Get The Gold In The Olympics
With the Paris Olympics 2024 on the horizon, the USA Men’s Basketball team is on its way to defending its status as an undefeated team. The national basketball team has won the gold in all except one of the Olympics from 1992. Prominent players such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and more have been a part of the team.
Barack Obama reportedly visited the team as they geared up to go to Paris and celebrate USA Basketball’s 50th Anniversary. The former president greeted the players and also honored the legendary players in attendance. He said in his speech (via USA Today),
I’m pretty confident that they’re going to be bringing back the gold and representing us the way we should be represented around the world. I just want to come here to obviously help send off the soon-to-be gold-medal winners. But I want to come by and say thank you to the legends who have represented USA Basketball and America for 50 years now.
Legendary players such as Cheryl Miller, Spencer Haywood, Steve Smith, Dwayne Wade, and more were present at the event.
