Michelle Obama Finally Shares Her Thoughts On That Viola Davis Portrayal

We can all remember where we were the first time we saw that clip of EGOT-winner Viola Davis portraying former First Lady Michelle Obama in Showtime’s 2022 series, “The First Lady.” And now, all these years later, we’ve finally got some insight into how the characterization landed for Obama herself.

If you’ll remember, we told you at the time that Davis was supremely nervous about bringing Obama to life onscreen. Describing the task as “stress” during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel in 2022, she expressed: “Everybody loves Michelle Obama. They know what she sounds like, they know what she looks like. And I’m like, ‘I don’t want Michelle Obama calling me, cussing me out.’”

Well, as it turned out, it wasn’t Obama that she had to worry about: it was the viewers themselves. In fact, not too long after the show premiered, she faced swift and heavy backlash for how she portrayed the “IMO” podcast host, specifically as it related to how she held her mouth and enunciated certain words.

See the particular scene that sent social media ablaze below.

Now, after all the hubbub has died down, it was only right that Obama finally give her two cents about the ordeal. The small reaction came during a new interview on the “Baby, This is Keke Palmer” podcast on Wednesday, where the “Becoming” author was there as a guest alongside host Keke Palmer. Near the end of their nearly hour-and-a-half-long conversation, Palmer opted to play a game with Obama and asked if she would “go low or go high” if someone were to judge her based on her looks and not what she was actually saying.

That’s when the former First Lady explained that she’d go low with her team internally: She would describe past instances with mainstream press where she’d give them the answer she’d really want to say, but then opted for a more politically correct answer in public.

That’s when Palmer quipped about the aforementioned show, “That made me think about that movie [sic] with Viola Davis when she was portraying you.”

Obama’s response? “I didn’t watch that, that’s the one thing I can’t do,” she said.

She then quickly followed it up by saying that while she loved Davis, she’d want to bring her around so they could have an honest conversation like the kind she’d just described, so that they could really chat about it.

“I’d love to get Viola, and we can talk about that scene. [And] then I’ll watch it,” Obama then said with a laugh.

Hmm, so even though our former First Lady didn’t watch it, based on this response, it seems like she’s either seen or heard enough about it to know that it would warrant a conversation. Somebody hurry up and get these two icons on the phone; we need a true resolution to this ASAP!