NYC mayor, Hillary Clinton taking heat over comedy skit

NEW YORK — Hillary Clinton and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have come under fire over a comedy skit that some people feel was racially insensitive.

Clinton, just days before the crucial New York primary, was a surprise guest during the mayor’s performance at the annual Inner Circle show in Manhattan on Saturday night, a black-tie charity gala that is the city’s answer to the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, took the stage to applause and, in a scripted scene, teased de Blasio, a fellow Democrat who managed her 2000 Senate campaign, for taking so long to endorse her presidential bid.

“Sorry Hillary,” de Blasio replied, “I was running on CP time.”

At first, that seemed to be a reference to a racial stereotype, “colored people time.” Leslie Odom Jr., a black actor who plays Aaron Burr in the Broadway smash “Hamilton,” also was onstage and pretended to be offended.

“I don’t like jokes like that, Bill,” Odom said.

But then Clinton interjected: “Cautious politician time. I’ve been there.”

Many in the room where it happened, which was filled with New York politicians, power brokers and reporters, laughed at the joke. But it soon made its way around social media and drew some scornful media coverage.

De Blasio, whose two multiracial children identify as black, downplayed the controversy.