Barack Obama has revealed the “truth” about his infamous tan suit, and it turns out Larry David is to blame.
A satirical reenactment of the former president’s controversial sartorial choice appeared in the grand finale of David’s Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, produced by Barack and Michele Obama’s Higher Ground Productions.
According to the show, it was an aide, played by 79-year-old David, who ruined Obama’s original suit, forcing him to think outside the box.
“It is a great suit,” Obama, 65, says in a clip from the episode, holding his tan suit aloft as comedian David agrees: “Oh boy, oh boy. I think this is the move.”
“I’m going to try it out, see how it looks,” the 44th president says, while David, despite looking horrified, exclaims: “You’ll thank me!”
Obama soon returns in the suit, completed to historical accuracy with a gray, double-striped tie.
“Alright, let’s go, I’ve got a press conference to do. You sure about this?” Obama asks, with David reassuring him: “Never been more sure about anything in my life.”
Adding insult to injury, Obama walks past a full rail of traditional dark suits on his way out, with David ominously noting: “People are going to be talking about this for a long, long time.”
David’s new HBO show—timed to coincide with the nation’s 250th anniversary—has comedically recreated multiple major events from U.S. history, but it seems the Obamas knew they were saving the best for last.
The former POTUS shared a clip of the scene across social media on Saturday, and joked: “People always ask me where the tan suit came from. I think it’s time the truth finally came out.”
The Tan Suit Scandal of August 28, 2014, saw... a man wearing a nice, light-hued suit for a White House press briefing.
Obama himself did not appear to see the big problem, remarking in 2020: “You know, the big scandal for me was the time I wore the tan suit, which I thought was pretty sharp. I had worn it to church just like that spring.”
For his political enemies, however, it was a stain on the nation comparable to Teapot Dome.
Former New York Rep. Peter King, for example, said at the time: “There’s no way, I don’t think, any of us can excuse what the president did yesterday. I mean, you have the world watching.
“For him to walk out—I’m not trying to be trivial here—in a light suit, a light tan suit, saying that first he wants to talk about what most Americans care about... the economy...”
