Obama ‘selfie’ at Mandela memorial causes Twitter firestorm
US President Barack Obama may have thought being stuck in traffic and delayed to the Nelson Mandela memorial in Cape Town was the low point of his day. However, an apparent ‘selfie’ taken with UK PM David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has created a social media storm.And judging from the look on Michelle Obama’s face, it may have caused a domestic rift, too.Last month Obama revealed that the secret service do not permit him to use a smartphone, although he does have use of a security boosted Blackberry. It is thought that the selfie was taken by Thorning-Schmidt on her phone.Reaction on social media has been almost universally negative, with the picture making many front newspaper pages across the eastern hemisphere.Earlier in the day, Obama’s unprecedented traffic snarl up was documented by Cape Town commuters, who snapped and tweeted the President’s slow progress through the gridlock.
A defining image of the Mandela memorial
'No selfie respect': The Sun puts the boot into Cameron & Obama for selfie at Mandela memorial: pic.twitter.com/jHdiJumVZw (via @SkyNews)
— The Media Blog (@TheMediaTweets) December 10, 2013How many funerals have you attended where you took selfies while the ceremony was going on??? #ObamaSelfie
— Chris Crowley (@ChrisCrowley2) December 10, 2013
Obama and Cameron posing for a selfie at Mandela's ceremony. What made then think that that would go down well #oops
— Thomas Greenway (@thomas_greenway) December 10, 2013
Obama's selfie w/ Cameron & the Danish PM is the most surreal thing I've seen (& it was taken at Mandela's memorial). pic.twitter.com/f8lhrGq3ba
— Alex Holmes (@Alex_Holmesy) December 10, 2013
Most insensitive selfie ever or most epic selfie ever? You decide. http://t.co/NpQVhFpko5 pic.twitter.com/nrFOYgPyDm
— Complex (@ComplexMag) December 10, 2013
Michelle Obama appears less than amused at her husband's version of a Selfie at a Funeral: http://t.co/dgfGYKPN4G pic.twitter.com/ac2aiiXgpg
— Slate (@Slate) December 10, 2013
PHOTO: OBAMA TAKES SELFIE AT MANDELA MEMORIAL: Michelle Looks Pissed To Hell -British ... - http://t.co/gNUeurdMWA - pic.twitter.com/UNj5gI884t
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 10, 2013
So that's why Obama is late, he's stuck in traffic #traffic #MadibaMemorial pic.twitter.com/HoB9DhqjuC
— Hayden (@Hayden_Himself) December 10, 2013