The most notable moment of last night's White House Correspondents Association Dinner did not come from anything Barack Obama nor SNL's Cecily Strong said or did on the stage. Instead it seems what went viral was the image of a woman in the audience furiously texting on her cell phone while the National Anthem was being played.
As upsetting as viewers found this, the strange excuses given by the woman who has been identified as Washington Post reporter Helena Andrews is sure to anger people even more. According to Andrews, she was really taking notes, not texting and, hey, this is 2015 after all. Below you can see the Washington Post reporter texting, er, taking notes, on her cell phone starting at the 33 second mark in stark contrast to those around her who demonstrated the proper respect for the National Anthem:
And now for her bizarre excuse tweet:
Apparently someone saw me on TV "texting" during the dinner. FTR I was taking notes. On my phone. Because it's 2015. #WHCD
— Helena Andrews (@helena_andrews) April 26, 2015
Got that? She wasn't texting. She was really "taking notes." Oh, and it is also 2015. And that is supposed to excuse her? Here are some tweets in reply which don't accept her excuse:
@helena_andrews Your snarky reference to"because it's 2015"makes you look worse; doesn't matter what year it is, patriotism still important!
— luvcats13 (@luvcats13) April 26, 2015
@helena_andrews Please. You couldn't hold off "taking notes" until our military was done playing the National Anthem? You showed 0 respect.
— Ann (@Kenshousewifey) April 26, 2015
@helena_andrews are you kidding me... Taking notes during the national anthem... Did you need to transcribe the words being sung!
— Desobry Bowens (@Desobry) April 26, 2015
Exit question: Will the Washington Post report on their own reporter enraging viewers at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner?