Barack Obama’s Team USA Basketball visit goes viral as fans notice uncanny resemblance to iconic Key & Peele skit
Former US President Barack Obama’s visit to the US men’s basketball team went viral because it resembled an iconic Key & Peele sketch from 2014.
In the Comedy Central sketch, Jordan Peele plays Obama after delivering a presidential speech. As he greets a line of spectators, he formally shakes hands with white fans and gives hugs and layered handshakes to black audience members.
On Wednesday, Obama appeared to act out the sketch for real when he sent the team of NBA stars to the Olympic Games in Paris later this month.
The viral clip shows former President Anthony Edwards, Steph Curry, LeBron James and Anthony Davis casually shaking hands and hugging each other.
After greeting the players, Obama walked over to the coaching staff with firm, formal handshakes, much like the Obama character in the sketch did with non-black spectators.
Barack Obama went viral for resembling an iconic Key & Peele sketch during a meeting with Team USA
The latter group included Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
Several users were quick to point out that the clip bore an odd resemblance to the skit. When reposting the video, Barstool Sports wrote that “Obama pulled out the old Key and Peele manual.”
“This is literally exactly how the sketch went. Wow,” one user wrote.
“Word for word, measure for measure,” said another.
“He knew exactly what he was doing,” remarked a third, while a fourth asked, “Life imitating art, or art imitating life?”
Still, Obama sent a message to the players by declaring a new title for himself.
The former US president called himself the ‘Hooper-in-Chief’ during his speech to the team
The all-star team consists of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Jayson Tatum
The Americans belong to the same group as Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico
“It’s true that I’m Hooper-in-Chief,” he opened his speech. “I just want to be here to help the future gold medalists. We invented this game and I don’t like it when we don’t win.”
“Assuming they play as a team, our talent will be second to none. I have confidence they will bring back the gold and represent us the way we should be represented around the world.”
The Americans open the group stage on August 28 against Serbia. On August 31 they play against South Sudan and on August 3 against Puerto Rico.