The White House considered ending all selfies with President Obama this week after baseball star David Ortiz orchestrated a Samsung publicity stunt.
“Maybe this will be the end of all selfies,” White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer told CBS’ “Face the Nation” after the incident on Sunday. “(Obama) obviously didn’t know anything about Samsung’s connection to this."
“Someone who uses the President’s likeness to promote a product… that’s a problem with the White House,” he added. “We’ve had conversations with Samsung about this and have expressed our concerns.”
According to reports, Ortiz snapped an one-on-one shot with the Commander in Chief during the Red Sox’s visit to the Oval Office. Controversy started after he tweeted the image and word spread that he used the opportunity to plug his corporate sponsor.
However, we are in luck because press secretary Jay Carney told reporters that there is no selfie veto is in effect. During a press conference on Monday he said “there’s no discussion of a ban” and Pfeiffer said that ”humorously.”
In response to the backlash, Ortiz said “I don’t understand where that stuff is coming from.”
“That was one of those things that just happened. I gave him the jersey, and the photographers were going to take their pictures and I thought, really at the last second, maybe I should snap a shot with my phone while I have the chance,” he told The Boston Globe. “It had nothing to do with no deals.”
Despite the Selfiegate scandal, the presidential pic was Twit hit. As of this writing, it’s been retweeted more than 42,000 times.
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