WASHINGTON — President Obama is sounding sore that Ellen DeGeneres broke his Twitter record by corralling a group of celebs into taking a selfie during the Academy Awards.
“I heard about that. I thought it was a pretty cheap stunt myself — getting a lot of celebrities in the background, you feeding them pizza,” he said when DeGeneres reminded him in an interview that she had broken his record for the most re-tweets.
The photo, which featured Bradley Cooper, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey and other stars, beat Obama’s tweet from the night he got re-elected.
DeGeneres didn’t mention Obama’s own famous selfie, taken with the Danish prime minster during Nelson Mandela’s funeral in South Africa.
Obama was appearing on “Ellen” to persuade women in her daily audience of roughly 4 million to sign up for ObamaCare — but not before answering about 10 minutes of questions about some of his lighter moments in the headlines.
Discussing his recent shopping trip to the Gap on 42nd Street, Obama said he thought the sweaters he picked for his daughters were “pretty nice” — though they haven’t put them on yet.
“Malia and Sasha, they did not scowl when I brought them in, which was a good sign. They didn’t immediately say, ‘Ew, that’s terrible,’” Obama said. “I have not yet seen them wear them, but I’m hoping that I make the cut.”
Obama tried a few jokes about being home alone at the White House while his wife and daughters are on a trip to China, although most of the material fell flat with the audience.
Obama spoke by satellite from the White House, which might have made it harder to read the room.
“The house is abandoned. I’m stuck with two dogs, and I am expected to walk them and do what you do when you walk dogs,” the president said, to virtual silence.
He said his wife is watching the show “Scandal,” but described his own life as more mundane. “The truth of the matter is, if you followed me, most of my day is sitting in a room listening to a bunch of folks in gray suits talking about a whole bunch of stuff that wouldn’t make very good television.”
Obama sounded satisfied with his method for keeping his daughters from getting tattoos. He said he’s threatened that he and his wife will get the same tattoo in the same place and post it online.
“I suspect that’ll be a pretty good deterrent,” he said.