Obama surprises fan with live book reading on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’
Former President Obama joined host Jimmy Kimmel for a new episode of his late night talk-show and added more details about his new memoir.
Former President Barack Obama virtually visited Jimmy Kimmel Live! and helped surprise an admirer of his political career.
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Host Jimmy Kimmel informed Obama that his team found a few people who had followed his career since his first inauguration in 2009. He continued to explain on Thursday’s episode the special guests had no idea they would be on the show, nor that one of their icons were involved. In fact, the people were made to believe the clips were prerecorded.
Joyce Taylor, one of the people to be surprised, is described as a huge fan who saves Obama magazine clippings. Once he appeared on screen, she covered her face in excitement. Her emotions were barely contained as he began to read through his new memoir, Promised Land. While reading, he changed the text to mirror her description, in celebration of citizens of the United States. Once he says her name, she screamed with excitement.
“Hey Joyce, what’s going on?” Obama remarked. “How are you?” he asked.
Speaking through excitement, she was able to respond “I’m fine,” as she continued in disbelief.
Throughout the clip, Taylor is unable to complete a full sentence. In the end, she thanked both Obama and Kimmel for the opportunity and the signed copy of the memoir.
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During the episode, Kimmel and Obama also spend some time speaking about outgoing President Donald Trump. The former POTUS responded to the current commander in chief’s retweet of a conspiracy theory about the death of Osama Bin Laden.
“I mean, it would be preposterous except for the fact that it’s the President of the United States re-tweeting it,” Obama said. “When you had one of the members of the Seal team responding, understanding the risks he and his fellow Seal members took – anything could have happened… that’s just not what you want out of a Commander in Chief.”
He also joked about the fact that Trump is not likely to read Promised Land.
“Did you make it that long to make sure Trump never reads it?,” Kimmel asked.
“You know, I don’t think it would have had to be 700 [pages] to make sure he doesn’t read it,” Obama replied.
theGrio reported the book sold over 800,000 copies in one day, breaking a record for publisher Penguin Random House.
“We are thrilled with the first day sales,” said David Drake, publisher of the Penguin Random House imprint Crown according to the report. “They reflect the widespread excitement that readers have for President Obama’s highly anticipated and extraordinarily written book.”
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