Sensenbrenner apologizes for Michelle Obama ‘big butt’ comment

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner apologized to First Lady Michelle Obama Thursday after someone overheard him making wisecracks about her healthy food initiative and “big butt.”

Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) was at the Reagan National Airport in Washington on Wedesday when someone overheard him saying loudly over the phone that Obama “lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself,” MediaBistro’s FishbowlDC reported. 

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“I regret my inappropriate comment and I have sent a personal note to the First Lady apologizing,” the Republican lawmaker said in a statement.

Sensenbrenner was reportedly recounting a recent conversation he had at a Wisconsin Episcopal church during his airport phone call.

“He got on the topic of first ladies and their special interests, and he said most first ladies have serious projects,” Ann Marsh-Meigs, a 72-year-old member of the church said, according to Politico. “He implied that Michelle Obama being interested in childhood obesity was not serious, he sort of made fun of it and then he made fun of her. He said something like, look at her big butt.”

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“How dumb can you be? I think it’s stupid to talk like that, it’s really rude — it’s the president’s wife,” Marsh-Meigs continued. “He just assumed everyone sitting at the table would agree with him and think it was funny. I didn’t think it was the least bit funny, and there was sort of a stunned silence. I said, ‘I think Michelle is a beautiful and elegant woman, and she dresses beautifully.’”

Michelle Obama has not publicly commented on the incident. She is currently in Hawaii on vacation with daughters, Sasha and Malia.